Unwritten
by M. Michelon
Summary: One day changed everything. Not a single moment of his life was the way that it had been. Logan woke up missing fifty years of history. He figured he could read a book, talk to people, learn the history. A wife was the very last thing that he had expected. What happens when you story becomes unwritten? ON TEMPORARY LEAVE OF ABSENCE UNTIL DECISIONS ARE MADE
1. Chapter I

**Author's Note: I've never tried something like this before. I watched the movie when it first came out and then again with my nephews a few days ago. Anyways, this idea has been stuck in my head and I'd thought I'd give this a try. Now, as with all my stories, I'll give it a few days. If I don't get a response to this, it tells me that this story isn't ready for publication and I'll just end up deleting it. It's up to you all. This story is immediately following the end of ****_X-Men: Days of Future Past_****. I hope you guys enjoy ****_Unwritten_****!**

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><p><strong>Chapter I<strong>

One day; a single day in the course of history was all it took for everything to be changed. Everything around hi was familiar. The school, the kids, the people, the environment. And yet, everything was different. Those people that he had never thought to see again, the friends, the colleagues, the comrades, they were there. Not only there. They were alive…and thriving. The best part was, _they_ were staring at _him_. They were asking _him_ if everything was all right. No; none of this was all right…but it was all perfect.

"What's the last thing you remember?" the Professor asked him, his voice serious, dark, and solemn.

"Drowning," Logan admitted. He could practically feel the water in his lungs again, could feel himself suffocating. He remembered hoping that it had been enough; that he wasn't going to return to some future where everyone that he'd ever known, loved, or cared about was dead. He couldn't have lived there. Not on his own. "Looks like we got enough done before I died," he added, trying to flash a smile and put the man at ease in even the smallest way.

"We did," he agreed. "We were fortunate enough to have changed the events forever."

"Everyone's alive, so we did something right," he chuckled, but couldn't escape the fact that the man was hiding something from him. Something that the Professor obviously didn't think Logan would take well.

"Hank is going to teach your class this morning," Charles said, watching the thoughts play through Logan's head. His old friend had enough years behind him to know that something was going on. "And my worry is not that you will not take the news well. My worry is that you might hurt people in the process of accepting it."

"You know, I think I miss the you that didn't have his powers. He stayed out of my head," Logan muttered, clenching and unclenching his fists as he sank down in a seat. "What has you so worried? My friends are alive. Future seems to be much more bright than it was when I left it."

"It has not been without it's difficulties," Charles said, needing to divert Logan for a few moments while he located the source of the troubles that would be facing Logan. "We are not as accepted in the world as we would like to be. It is to be expected. There are some who still see us as a threat. Perhaps they always will. For every human who sees us as the end of their lives, there is a mutant who thinks like Eric does…did."

"You two love birds work things out?" Logan asked, laughter evident in his voice.

"It took us a while. After he rid himself of you, Eric attempted to assassinate the president—"

"After, of course, being imprisoned for killing Kennedy," Logan cut in.

"He swears that he didn't do it. He swears that he was trying to save him, but that is besides the point now. Eric left, taking Raven with him." Logan saw the sadness that crept into the bald man's eyes once again. It cleared quickly, only a glimmer. "The history that you know is not something that I know, Logan. I don't know how long it took Eric to finally realize the error of his ways. I do know that he's trying. There's a part of him that will always want to go on the offensive. It is simply in his nature."

"He's a survivor," Logan said, nodding slowly. "And Mystique? What happened to her?"

"We're still hoping. Eric lost her in 1973; she didn't go with him as we'd all assumed. She came to a meeting with the government in the early 2000s. We established a kind of treaty with the government for our kind," he continued. He could sense the Logan was still curious as to what was being hidden from him, but chose to ignore it with news that he new would make the dreaded Wolverine overjoyed, although he wouldn't act on it. "We're no longer the only mutant school out there. There's ten throughout the nation. We're one of three that take in international students."

"And the Sentinel Project?"

"It doesn't exist," Charles assured him. "The X-Men are a recognized part of the United States Armed Forces. Eric is the one in charge, technically." Logan growled, thinking that hell would have to freeze over before he would take orders from Magneto. "He does not issue orders. He's the strategist, Logan. As you said, Eric is a survivor. He's good at his job. He's one of the only reasons that the X-Men have garnered the attention that they have." The Professor was talking about the group as if they were…superheroes. "In some ways, we are."

"Better not have action figures made, Char—"

"Charles?" a soft, musical female voice called out, shoes slapping the ground as someone ran towards the office. The smells that assaulted his senses nearly drowned him. It was the cleanest sea breeze, the most fragrant pine needles, and something that he couldn't quite define. "Professor, Hank told me that he was stepping in for Logan today. Have you seen him?" The scent came closer and closer until the smacking feet rounded the corner and entered the office. "Professor—Logan! Oh, thank God. You scared me. When we'd talked last night, you were fine. I was worried you'd had an episode or something."

His eyes narrowed. He should probably know the woman, especially with the way that she was staring at him with eyes brimming with concern, but he had no idea who she was. "You didn't mention that you were going to have a meeting with the Professor today." She smiled at him now and strode closer, feting her hands on his shoulders and reached up to brush a light kiss across his lips. "Don't forget that I'm going out with Storm and Jean tonight. You're on your own for dinner." He managed a nod that must have seen normal enough, because she beamed up at him brightly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Professor. It must have just slipped his mind last night."

"Everything is fine, Sirenia. When you're finished with your class, come back, if you would. I'd like to have a word or two with you," the wheelchair-bound man said. Thinking nothing of it, the beauty with the blue-black hair smiled at him again and sauntered away.

Logan was stunned, spellbound. The woman's hair had nearly looked violet in the light from the windows in the office. Her eyes had been crystalline blue, like the clearest pools in the deepest oceans. She'd astounded him from the moment that she'd sprinted into the office. Her hair had curled in gentle waves down to her hips. Her skin had radiated warmth, the scent of her mingling in his nose even still. "Logan?" The Professor's voice finally broke through the wall that the woman had woven around his head.

"Who was that?" he was forced to ask, wanting to know, even as he was afraid of the answer. Charles certainly looked uneasy about the answer.

"Sirenia," he answered easily. "She came to us the same time that you did. Her power is most interesting. Eric can control anything with metal. Sirenia can control anything with water in it, even a person's body. It's quite incredible." But the look on the professor's face said that there was more to it than what he was being told. "I should be more clear: she came to us _with_ you, Logan. She's…she's your wife."


	2. Chapter II

**Author's Note: Okay, I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting this kind of reaction. Sometimes, a story just hits the right note, I guess. I know that the chapters are short, but it's because I update multiple times a week (usually every ****_other_**** day). Also, I have a...let's call it a penchant for leaving cliffhangers at the end of the chapters. That being said, I hope you all enjoy! **

**Chapter II**

The Professor had warned her that it would happen one day. He'd told her that Logan would forget her one day. Sirenia supposed she'd just been expecting a warning of some kind. She'd woken in the morning, pressed against her husband's well chiseled chest, his arm curled tight around her waist. She'd pressed a kiss against his cheek and slipped from the warmth of their bed for her morning swim. It had been just like every other morning of her life with him. If she had only known that things were not going to be the same at all…

Sirenia wasn't quite sure what she would have done differently. Maybe she would have lingered in that wonderful place between asleep and awake a little longer. Maybe she would've relished the strength in Logan's arms and the way that he held her. Maybe she would've kissed him a little harder the night before, told him just how much she truly loved him, explained how much he meant to her. Maybe she would've cried. Or maybe, knowing that he was going to forget her in the morning, she wouldn't have changed a single thing that she'd done the night before.

But it wouldn't have changed the fact that Logan wouldn't recall any of it in the morning.

"I have a theory, Sirenia," Charles had told her when she'd sat on the small settee, her elbows resting on her knees and her head hanging between her shoulders. Knowing that it was going to happen was supposed to softly the blow. It just hadn't worked. "His body and a part of his mind _was_ here. Otherwise, the Logan that we all know would not have been alive. Those memories may e locked somewhere inside his mind. Maybe not the conscious part of him, but they may be there."

Sirenia just shook her head. She remembered sitting into the office years ago, after Logan had asked her to marry him. "There are some things that you don't know about Logan, Sirenia; something that he doesn't even know about himself," he'd told her. She could recall her heart pounding, wondering what was about to be said. "In 1973," he'd begun, telling her the entire story. "There will come a day when he won't remember you, Sirenia. It's the way that Kitty explained it to him. The history that we all know is _not_ the history he remembers."

Pulled to the present by the soft clearing of the Professor's throat, Sirenia fought to keep her emotions in check. "You can't force him to remember me, Professor. Even if you could dig around in his head, Logan would hate you for it unless it's his idea. If there's one thing that we all know Logan hates, it's being told what to do," she said with a sad smile. "I'm sure that this will work itself out one way or another. I'm—I'm going to go to for a swim. Thank you for your help, Professor."

The man sighed heavily as he watched Logan's small wife walk out the door of his office. He'd felt the woman's riotous emotions as she'd thought through the things that she'd been told about 1973, the things she wanted to have done differently, and, more than everything else, the helplessness that she was feeling because her husband had no idea who she was. A swim would clear her mind. After all, the water had been her home for so long.

Sirenia sat in the shallow end of the pool, her legs were hugged to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. The waves she was creating were lapping at her legs, ebbing with each inhale that she took. She slid deeper into the water, feeling the scales start to form and crawl up her feet, to her ankles, up her calves. There was a part of her brain, she supposed it was the logical part, that realized that she was being ridiculous. She shouldn't be upset that her husband didn't remember her. Well, it wasn't that he didn't _remember _her. In his history, she didn't even exist. He couldn't remember someone that had never been a part of the world that he remembered.

But the other part of her, which was probably her heart if she was being honest with herself, was hurt. Every girl dreamed of finding true love, something that could outlast anything. Even a memory lost. Oh, she knew that it was completely ridiculous. She knew that this was not a normal circumstance. Logan and she had survived so much in their lives together. They'd made it through hell and back. Every single day was a fight for them. Between her history and his, they had little battles every day.

"Oh…I didn't realize that you were sitting here. I'm sorry; I'll just—"

"No, it's fine," she assured her should-be husband, scooting to the side and looking up at him. "We should probably talk anyways. It wouldn't kill us." He grunted and sank down beside the hotel, dangling his feet over the edge enough to skim the top of the water. "You have questions, right?"

Logan looked at the woman sitting in the water close to him. The tips of her hair were swaying with the small current in the water. Her midriff and legs were completely exposed, but she was covering herself by holding her legs tight to her chest. The Professor had told him that her abilities had something to do with water, but Logan couldn't help but wondering if she could read minds, too. He certainly hadn't been expecting her to know exactly what was going through his brain. "Who are you?" he asked her, instant regretting the phraseology when she looked more than a little hurt by the question. He was _married_ to the woman. He should know her name.

"Sirenia; I was your wife," she said softly. "We found each other in the late 80s. We've been together every since," she explained, sitting up a little straighter.

"We've been married for thirty years?"

The smile and laughter that came from her made him want to smile as well. "We've only been married for five years. We were friends for a very long time. We went through…a lot together." He wasn't sure that he liked the sound of that. She made it sound like they'd gone to war together. Maybe they had. The hell if he knew what it was that had happened to him. Well, apparently, it was what happened to _them_ if she was to be believed.

"I thought you were going out with Jean and Storm tonight," he managed to choke out. It wasn't as if he'd never been around women before. He had. He just had never been married before. He'd never had to have conversations like this one before. Well, he had…back with Kayla in those early days but now he didn't even know if that was something that had happened in his life. Having these conversations with someone that he was supposed to love and know but who was, in actuality, a stranger…that was something completely different.

"I think we can both agree that there were some more important things that needed to be dealt with tonight than a girl's night out," she whispered, pushing to her feet. Logan watched as the water lapped a little more wildly around her. He watched her take a deep breath and lick her lips. "I'll move my things from our room."

"I can—"

"No; that was your room before we got married. It's always been your room. I'm sure that nothing in your life feels right. You should have something that is yours and somewhere that you can escape. You can't really do that if the wife that you don't know is there, too," Sirenia insister. She walked across the shallow water and rested her hands on his knees. She knew that it wasn't right, but she wasn't quite sure what else she was supposed to do. The scales were crawling up her arms and hands from having been in the water for too long. She pressed a kiss against his cheek. "I know that you have more questions, but I'm not going to be able to answer them tonight. We can talk in the morning."

She started to walk away when Logan gripped her hand and pulled her to a stop. "Look, I'm not sure if this means anything to you, but I'm sorry. Charles said that he told you it was going to happen." She nodded slowly. "He said that he told me, too."

"Not that you remember that," she said, still nodding.

"No. But I wish that I…Look, I'm—I wish that I could remember the important things," he told her. Sirenia knew that the words were supposed to make her feel better, that he _wanted_ to remember her, but the idea killed what little hope was in her heart.

"I'll see you in the morning," she breathed, sprinting across the grass and hoping that the water around her would stay calm. She knew what would happen if she lost control. It had happened countless times before. She sprinted into the house, up the stairs, and towards the room of the only person that she wanted to talk to. She pounded her fist against the wooden door.

"What are you doing here?" Storm asked, her eyebrows drawn together. "You were the one who canceled our plans—Are you crying?" She gripped Sirenia's upper arm and towed her into the room. "Get in the bathtub and calm yourself down. Hank," she called behind her shoulder. Sirenia's eyes narrowed as she realized that Storm was calling into _her_ room for Hank. "Go find Logan, please. And…beat a little sense into him if you have to." The Beast nodded and slid out of the doorway. As she'd always done, Sirenia welcomed herself into the room and slid herself into the bathtub, running the water around her legs. _I wish that I could remember the important things_. "Start talking," Storm snapped.


	3. Chapter III

**Author's Note: For those who read ****_Beware the Frozen Heart_****, I know that I didn't update. I'm planning on posting a chapter tomorrow for that story as well as ****_Beware the Smoldering Heart_****. Also, if you're interested in something a little different, please go take a look at my story, ****_Waiting for Superman_****. That being said, I would like to remind people that this story is from a universe of my own creation. It follows the movies as far as references to what Logan will remember, but what happens and has happened as a result of ****_Days of Future Past_**** is my own creation. Suggestions, criticisms, and praise are all more than welcome! Enjoy!**

**Chapter III**

Sirenia rested in the oversized bathtub, simply watching the water. Storm was sitting beside the rim of the tub, her chin resting on the porcelain, simply waiting for an explanation. "What did he say?" Storm asked. Sirenia rolled her head towards her best friend, managing to wing her eyebrows up in question despite the emotional exhaustion that was tugging her down to the bottom of the tub. "I know that you were talking to Logan, Si. It would've been the only thing to make you this upset. What did he say?"

"Sometimes, I think you know me a little too well," Sirenia muttered. "I know that it's ridiculous. I swear, I do. I know that I'm acting like some crazy bitch. But my husband doesn't remember me. I've been through everything with him and he has no idea who I am. It just hurts. I know that in the other history that he knows, I didn't exist. I think it would've been easier if he hadn't said that he wished he could remember the important things." Unable to admit the pain she was feeling, Sirenia sank herself beneath the water and let the liquid fill her lungs.

Storm watched her best friend sink below the water, watched the scales crawl up her legs and begin across her chest. The white haired woman waited patiently for Sirenia to pop her head back up, though waiting was pointless. The woman could breathe underwater. Letting her eyes mist over, Storm dropped hail into the bath, watching it plunk against her best friend's stomach and shoulders. Sirenia popped out of the water, her eyes narrowed and threatening. "I would think that him at least _wanting_ to remember you, would be a good thing," Storm said.

She let out a startled squeal when a jet of water came from the pool of water and smacked her straight in the forward. "You get my hair wet, I'll find a way to drown you. I promise," Storm threatened. "Will you please tell me what your big issue is? He wants to remember you. That's a good thing," she insisted.

"You don't get it. He said he wishes that he could remember the important things. But he remembers you and Hank and Scott and Kitty and Rogue and the Professor and—"

"And Jean," Storm muttered, realizing what this was all boiling down to. "He remembers Jean."

"I never said that," Sirenia retorted, waving a blue-green scaled hand at her best friend.

"You didn't have to. He doesn't remember you because you didn't exist in the world that he knew. He Jean because she did," Storm snapped. "If you don't get your brain back, I'm going to drain the water out of this tub and turn the heat lamp on."

"For someone who teaches our students that violence is not always the answer, you certainly haven't learned the lesson yourself."

"I am the teacher. I don't have to listen to anyone." There was a petulance about Storm's voice that made Sirenia want to laugh. "Well, unless it's the Professor."

"Well, you know, they say those who can't do teach."

"You're just asking to be electrocuted." That finally elicited a laugh from the body in the water. "You don't know that the history Logan knows now includes Jean the way it did here."

"The fact that he doesn't know this world and this history doesn't mean that he's a different person. I'm sure that Logan had something with Jean, whether it was this history or that one," Sirenia muttered, remembering the pain of first arriving at the mansion. Logan had forgotten about her almost from the beginning. He'd been so absorbed with Jean, so obsessed with something that was different from the people he'd been around. Back then, it had felt as if she'd been wiped from the face of the Earth. But at least back then, Logan had still known she was alive. This time… This time, he had no idea who she was.

"Well, as the Guidance Counselor at our lovely little school, allow me to give you some guidance." Sirenia just grunted. "Look, your logic for why he remembers Jean is that Logan may not remember, but Logan is still _Logan_."

"I'm glad that your ears are still working."

"But, by that logic, Si, Logan doesn't have to remember you to love you. I get that you're frustrated that he doesn't remember you. I understand that it hurts, too. But you're not looking at the big picture. He is still the same Logan. He's big and mean and gruff and rude and obnoxious and—"

"Are you finished insulting my husband?"

"And tender-hearted and stronger that most other people that I know," Storm finished. "That man loves you. He doesn't have to remember all the little details of your lives together to love you. You may have to start from scratch, tell him everything that he already knew, but he'll love you," she promised. "You're a pain in the ass, but you've got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. He'll fall in love you. We'll make sure."

"Your wonderful advice is for me to pretend that we've never met before, which is what he remembers, and start dating all over again?"

"It's a good idea," Storm promised.

Sinking herself beneath the water again, Sirenia opened her lips enough to blow one bubble of air that floated to the surface. Rolling her eyes, storm popped the bubble. "It's not like I have much of a choice," Sirenia's voice said clearly from the burst.

"Then get out of my bathtub!" Storm shouted, hoping that Sirenia would hear her under the fifteen inches of water. "You cannot swim in a bath. Get in the pool if you want to spend more time in the water," she added.

Sirenia's hair had started the change, as it usually did when she was in the water for too long. Until Logan had saved her all those years ago, Sirenia didn't know that she could look normal. If it hadn't been for Logan, she wouldn't have known anything but the ocean. Well…and that lab. She doubted even Logan could've found a way to forget the lab. She pushed herself upright, threading her fingers through the pieces that had started to change, the pieces that had begun to look like seaweed. "I told Logan that he could stay in the room and I would find somewhere else to stay. You know, until we figure out things between the two of us."

"That best not be a look towards the sofa," Storm warned.

"Well, it would have been. Except that I saw a certain man covered in blue fur leaving the room," Sirenia retorted. "Care to explain, miss Ororo?" She narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her.

"Fine. Yes, something is…going on, but nothing that matters right now. I think your marital problems far outweigh my relationship."

"Oh, it's a relationship, is it?"

"I don't recall saying anything about a relationship," Storm countered, faking an innocent smile on her face.

"Hm, memory loss must be contagious." Storm's look turned serene. "Fine; lie to me if you want to. I'm going to my room to pack my things. Let me know if you feel like talking. Actually, let me rephrase. Once I've settled things with Logan, I expect an explanation." She wrapped herself in the towel that Storm held out for her.

"Everything will work itself out," Storm promised her.

The walk down the hall and to the room that she'd shared for years with her husband was the longest and most painful she'd ever experienced. It was nothing compared to the heart wrenching pain of gathering her belongings from the room. She pulled the yoga pants and tank top on overtop the scales that had formed, ignoring the painful way that the fabric pulled at her skin. The last thing that was left made her stop. She held the picture frame in her hands, her heart throbbing as she stared at the image. Logan had laughed and smiled at her that day, holding her tight to his chest and wrapping his arms around her. He would have thrown her into the ocean if she hadn't clung to him tightly. He'd been forced to go down with her.

Kitty had snapped the picture. Logan was laying in the sand, the tips of his hair coated with the grains. Sirenia had straddled him, her hands pressing him down into the sand. Blue-green scales had climbed up her arms; her hair had started to turn colors again. But he hadn't minded. He was grinning at her as if she was the most amazing woman in the world. Lord how she wanted to take the picture with her, if only to give her something to cling to. But there was a part of her brain that was telling her to leave it with him. It was unlikely that it would trigger any memories, but at least he could see that they'd been genuinely happy at one time.


	4. Chapter IV

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter, everyone! So... I want to give a little shout out to the lovely readers who have taken the time to review. I so greatly appreciate it. It's the only reason this story has gotten this far. But I haven't received the response I've been looking for to give me feedback. So...unless I get three reviews tonight, I may take the story down for revisions. It's up to you all, lovelies! Enjoy!**

**Chapter IV**

"Care to talk?" Hank asked as he settled down beside Logan. The man hadn't moved since Sirenia had pressed her lips against his cheek. There was something about it that he couldn't explain. Her lips had been softer than anything he'd ever felt before. While he didn't remember her, his body seemed to. When she'd come close enough for him to hold, placed her hands on his knees, it took every ounce of strength not to pull her into his lap and kiss the life out of her. That wasn't a reaction he should have towards a stranger.

"You still a Secretary of some shit or another?" Logan asked.

"No; I teach science and danger room technique here," Hank said, frowning at Logan. "I went into _politics_?"

"Oh no. You did not get _in_ to politics. You freaking _made_ politics," the Wolverine replied. "You were the Secretary of Mutant Affairs or some shit like that. You were the only reason that we were able to stop the Cure from being weaponized. Well, it was still weaponized, but they didn't start requiring a mutant vaccine."

"You're going to have to explain the Cure to me," Hank begged. Logan did, leaving out the part where he had to kill the woman that he'd loved more than anything else in the world. "At least I resigned from that damn position," he muttered when Logan had finished. "So, let me just get this straight. The Professor died; Jean died; Scott died; John died; Rogue took the Cure; and Magneto and Mystique sold us all out. Please tell me you don't _want_ to go back to that world?" Logan felt himself chuckle at the statement, but had to pause to think for a moment.

_Did_ he want to go back to the history that he remembered? No; he didn't. This world was much better. Everyone that he wanted and cared out about was alive. Sure, there were still some things that were strange. For example…he had a wife. A very petite wife with hair that was nearly purple or navy blue. Her mutation was something that he'd never seen before. He didn't even know what her abilities were. More importantly, he didn't know where they had met. From the sounds of things, they had some longstanding history."I think I'll stay here. People are alive here."

Hank grunted and walked to a tree, effortlessly swinging himself up into the branches. "What did you say to Sirenia?" the Beast asked, crouching on a thick limb and watching Logan from above.

"How you know I said anything to her?" Logan retorted.

"Because Sirenia is best friends with Ororo and my evening was just derailed because you upset your wife," Hank explained. "Now, I ask because I care about Sirenia's well being, and yours. If you combine that with the fact that you have, as I stated earlier, ruined my evening plans, I would like to fix things so that the two of you can kiss and makeup."

How did you makeup with someone that you didn't even know? If he had opened his eyes this morning to find that all of his friends were alive and Jean wanting nothing to do with him, that would've been something easy to handle. It would've been the life that he'd known before. But this…having a person who had always been there for him that he couldn't remember…he wasn't quite sure which one of them he was hurting more. "Sirenia said that she's moving out of her—our room. She said it was my room before she moved in and something about not wanting to take that away from me," Logan explained.

"That's not a good sign," the Beast said softly. "Maybe you should try to convince her that you want her to stay here with you. It's the only way that you're going to get somewhere with her." He watched Logan's face carefully, even swinging upside down just for a change of scenery. "Unless, you don't want to get anywhere with her."

"I don't _know_ her," Logan replied.

Beast shook his head and swung down to the ground. "You never struck me as being so heartless, Logan. You may not remember her, but knowing where you two met, you can't possibly be so cruel as to push her away."

"I don't know where we met. She hasn't told me," Logan snapped. Beast flinched as he realized that he'd not only misjudged the man, but probably revealed some information that Sirenia hadn't been planning on telling him yet. "Where did we meet?"

"Sirenia didn't tell you; it's up to her."

"Don't give me that shit. How did we meet, Hank?"

"I'm not telling you, Logan. She kept it from you for a reason. She probably didn't want to overwhelm your brain. You did just wake up in an entire different world," Hank pointed out.

Logan jumped up and grabbed the man by the collar. "Listen to me, you big blue fur-ball. I am married to the woman. I deserve to know something."

"Then you should ask her," Hank retorted.

"You're making it real hard not to hit you, Bub."

"Striker's lab," a different voice said. Logan tossed Hank aside and spun around to look at Scott striding towards him. "You were both at Striker's lab. When you escaped, you took her with you."

He could see it around him, see the water, feel the needles pushing into his skin and the metal fusing into his bones. He could remember thrashing and trying to break free. He remember getting out, stumbling blindly down a tunnel in his desire to escape. "Striker experimented on her?" he asked, his tongue a mile thick.

"No one knows. Well, at least, no one knows now. You knew what had happened to her. I'm sure that the Professor knows. But you three never told any of us. What Sirenia has been through has always been a secret that was shared with only you," Hank said softly.

Sprinting back to the bedroom, hoping that he'd be in the room in time to catch Sirenia getting clothing, Logan burst through the room. It looked bare, stripped down to nothing. The bed was made to perfection, the clock still shining on the nightstand. "Sirenia?" he called into the room, peering into the bathroom that adorned the bedroom. She wasn't there either. He turned back to the room, wanting to throw something across the small confines of the walls. He growled and picked up a pillow and chucked it, needing to release some of the pent up energy. The pillow clattered against something on a dresser, sending it clattering to the ground.

Intrigued, he pushed off the bed and stooped down by the pillow to retrieve a picture frame from the ground. Sirenia was leaning over him, pinning him to the ground while her scales shimmered in the sunlight. He didn't think he'd ever seen himself look so happy.

He couldn't imagine what he'd done to make Sirenia look at him the way that she was. She was a beautiful girl. Her skin was the color of fresh cream. When it was decorated with the scales, he was surprised to find that it was even more beautiful. It looked as if she was wearing some kind of jewelry. In the picture, she was wearing a shimmery black bikini with bottoms that looked more like shorts. Her hair was curly beyond all belief in the photo, but it made a beautiful curtain falling over her shoulder and drifting onto his skin.

But it was her smile that was getting him the most. Her lips were parted to reveal a set of gleaming white teeth. She was beaming at him as if he had saved her from the deepest, darkest pits of hell. He couldn't recall a moment where he'd had a woman look at him like that. His hands were resting on her hips, her palms pressed into his shoulders. They looked happy. But if what Scott had told him was true, if they had met in Striker's lab years ago… It made no sense that this was the result of that life.

Maybe Striker's lab wasn't as horrendous as he remembered it to be. It was possible that it hadn't been what he was remembering. But that didn't make any sense either. His skeleton was still fused with adamantium. He'd still been experimented on. Had Sirenia been experimented on? Did she know the pain that he knew? Most importantly, what had Striker done to her? Questions, he supposed, that would have to wait until the morning.

"Damn it," he snapped at himself, pushing to his feet and stomping down the stairs towards the Professor's office. He may not remember what had happened to the two of them, but someone in this house did. between Charles and Sirenia, he was going to find out. "Charles!" he shouted, pounding on the door between the office and the Professor's bedroom. "I need to talk to you, Professor." There was no sound within. "Charles!"


	5. Chapter V

**Author's Note: I'm sorry that there was no chapter the other day. I'm planning on giving you guys this chapter and another one later this evening (It's 3 am where I'm at). Okay? Okay! By the way, now that I know there are plenty of people reading, I would love to see more reviews please! Enjoy!**

**Chapter V**

_"Oh, come on, Si; you know it's not like that," Logan snapped at her. Sirenia stood in front of him, her arms crossed over her ample chest as she glared at him. He couldn't help but think that she'd adapted well to being on land. She no longer hated the idea of wearing real clothing, evident by her dark wash jeans and colorful tank top. Though she still hated shoes, she passed for a normal person to anyone who didn't know how long the girl had been on her own. "I'm not just dumping you here."_

_"Really, Logan? Because that's pretty much how it feels," she retorted, casting her eyes downward so that he wouldn't see the hurt that was filling her eyes. "You're leaving me and rogue here so that you can go off and play hero with a telepath." She spun on her heel and marched away, determined that he wouldn't know the truth. She'd been in love with him since the day that he'd rescued her. Logan had just never seen it, never understood the significance of what they'd gone through together. They'd lost _**_everything_**_ together. And found it all again._

_Logan grasped her arm about her elbow with near bruising force, jerking her back around to look at him. "You're not one of those simple minded people who holds prejudices. What the hell's your problem, Si? You've barely said three words to since we got here." He was surprised they hadn't been,_**_ I hate you_**_. She was treating him like the damn enemy when she'd been his only ally for more than a decade. She wasn't acting like the woman that he'd known, the person that he remembered rescuing. He barely recognized the female standing before him. _

_"Because you've been around so very much for me to talk to you," came Sirenia's sarcastic reply. "Have you even stopped to think about where you've put me and Rogue, Logan? Did we even cross your mind after you woke up?" She yanked her arm free of the grasp that had eased while she spoke. He couldn't fathom that she'd thought he'd deserted her. He wouldn't do that; ever. He'd known that Rogue was happy. It was there for everyone to see on her face while she was in class and with the other mutants that she now called friends. He hadn't considered that Sirenia was any less happy. "Go back to your little telepath, Logan. Heaven forbid she's too long on her own. She might remember that she has a boyfriend."_

_Sirenia knew that the dig was wrong, that she shouldn't be so hard on Jean. After all, the siren had no claim to the man that she'd called hers for nearly a decade. He was her protector, her best friend, and her only companion for years. Logan watched her walk away, the strange burning in his heart warning him that something wasn't right. Sirenia never just walked away. She'd always stood and fight. Stupid as he felt for even thinking it, Logan couldn't help but wonder if letting her walk away was losing her. He didn't think he could stand that._

Logan jerked upright in his bed, his heart pounding as he clutched the cold sheets on either side of him. It was the strangest sensation. It had been a dream, he was sure of it, but there was something in his brain that told him it was more than that. It was a tickling in his brain that said he'd lived that moment before, that it was a memory.

He inhaled, listening to the hollow sound of air rushing through his lungs and passing through his nostrils. The pang in his heart hadn't dulled since he'd woken up, though. He'd seen the pain in Sirenia's eyes when she'd turned away from him. It had been the strangest damn feeling to realize that he hadn't wanted her to leave. _Logan,_ the soft voice called into his head. He recognized the voice in his head immediately and felt guilty for waking the man up in the middle of the night.

He slipped from the bed and down the stairs, unable to stop himself from looking around for enemies lurking around the corners. The Professor's door was open, waiting for him. "What was that?" Logan asked him immediately. "That dream. I know you saw it. What was it?"

"I don't think that it was a dream, Logan. I think that it was a memory; in fact, I know it was," Charles explained. "I have a theory." Logan just waited. "Your conscious traveled back to 1973 in order to change the events that made _your_ future. But some part of you had to exist in the present, in _this_ present. Part of your brain was in this world. You formed memories. When you fell asleep, your brain brought forth those memories."

"So, I do remember my wife. Some part of me does, at least," Logan replied. "You can unlock that part of my brain. You can, can't you?" Logan demanded now, realizing that this was one way that he would be able to figure out what had happened in the last fifty years. "Do it; I need to know. I need to remember."

"No," Charles replied quietly. "I won't do that, Logan."

"You've done it before. Or, at least, in my history you did. You helped me find out who I was," Logan insisted. It was suddenly important that he remembered this past, remembered this history.

"Sirenia didn't want me to help you like this. She was right; this is not the way for you to remember this world and the life that you've lived here, Logan," the Professor insisted.

"Sirenia didn't want me to remember her?" That didn't make any sense. Sirenia had seemed so upset that he couldn't remember her. "That memory that I had, the dream. That wasn't the first time that I'd hurt her, was it?"

"Sirenia is the only one who should tell you those things, Logan. I can tell you that questions about your life are best answered by her. That girl knows just as much about you as I do," Charles said with a laugh in his voice. "I know that what you discover may trouble you, Logan. Some of the things that you'll remember… You just need to remember that this is the life that you've led here. It has turned out for the best for everyone." Logan nodded slowly, looking at the wall above his friend and mentor's head. "You should get some rest, Logan. You've had some weary travels."

Knowing that sleep was far off, Logan walked outside. The cold air brushed against his skin, cooling the sweat that had beaded against his skin. It was just like it had been before, before history had changed, before he'd gone back in time, before he'd woken up married. Everything that he knew about himself was wrong. There was only one key to his past. The problem was that Sirenia was a…woman.

Sirenia was confusing, to say the least. She'd seemed devastated by the fact that he couldn't remember her. She promised him that she would talk to him in the morning. Then she turned around and told the Professor not to help him, not to unlock the secrets locked in his brain. It hadn't been more than one day and he was already turned in knots.

Finally, he walked back towards the house. Alcohol would numb the weird pain in his heart; one that he'd never felt before. Bobby was sitting up at the bar, his elbows resting on the granite bar top. "Doesn't anyone in this house sleep?" Logan asked, realizing that television was playing in the other room. "Any beer in this place?"

"It's a high school," Bobby retorted. "There's some soda in the cabinet over there."

Logan laughed quietly to himself. "Some things never change," he muttered, handing the bottle to the young man. Bobby blew over it, chilling the glass and liquid. "So, you and Rogue, huh?" he asked, taking a swig of the drink.

"You've never really liked me dating your little girl, have you?" Bobby asked.

"What? Rogue is not my daughter, Bub. She's—"

"You can say whatever you want, but you hated me in the beginning when I was trying to impress me. Besides, you and Sirenia practically raised her. I'm surprised that you guys don't have kids of your own. You guys take one of the young ones under your wings every year or two," Bobby continued. "'Course, you probably don't remember any of this, do you?"

"Not like you're saying it," Logan admitted. "But, uh, trust me; you wouldn't have liked the future that we were living in."

"It's got to be weird though, right? You woke up and you have a completely different life," Bobby pointed out.

"Believe it or not, kid, this isn't the first time I've woken up and haven't been able to remember anything about myself." Bobby wasn't sure how to respond, the silence stretching between the two of them while Logan took a long draw from the bottle. "'Course, it is the first time that I've woken up married."


	6. Chapter VI

**Author's Note: Okay, so this is a little bit of a long chapter. There will be more explanations in Tuesday's chapter ****_and_**** the beginning of the action (because yes, this story will have action). Oh, and just a head's up: there will be no chapters on Thursday. I have an exam. And finally, I am instituting a new rule. Chapters will not be posted until I get at least five reviews. Meaning, in order to get an update on Tuesday, there need to be five reviews. I don't care what you say. I just need to know if you like it, if you want more, or if you have predictions. I don't care. I just need to know that people are reading and enjoying. Okay? So ****five reviews**** or no update on Tuesday. Enjoy!**

**Chapter VI**

Morning couldn't come fast enough. Logan had sat up the entire night, watching the sun rise over the tops of the tree. He watched the light turn from purple, to lavender, to pink, to orange, until it was finally a full bright yellow streaming in through the windows of the room he occupied. He wanted to talk to Sirenia. The light was better than the darkness. He hadn't been able to close his eyes without seeing the images. He could see Striker in front of him again, feel the needles, the metal, the water in his lungs—

"Logan?" The soft calling of his name jerked him back to the present, reminded him that he wasn't in the lab. The quiet sound of knuckles rapping against the door sounded before it was opened, Sirenia's head popping inside. "Good morning," she said softly, her black hair falling over her shoulder, licking her lips to keep herself from running at him. Her heart was pounding as she stared at him. He'd always looked so wonderfully disheveled in the morning. She could so easily recall the feeling of his hair between her fingers as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers…

"Morning," he muttered in response, sitting upright and letting the sheet slide down his chest.

"I was just making sure you were okay," she whispered, causing Logan to wing an eyebrow at him. "N-not that I thought something have happened. I just know that it was a lot for you to take in and the morning was getting pretty late and you weren't downstairs for breakfast. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay." Logan watched her step in closer, her beautiful blue eyes warming with the morning sun.

"I'm fine," he said, watching the way that her eyes narrowed and she shook her head.

"You couldn't sleep last night, could you?" she guessed. "I don't think I made this clear yesterday. I know how to read you, Logan. And I know when you haven't slept all damn night." She smiled at him slightly. "You get this look on your face. So, I'm about to make breakfast, if you want to join me. Rogue and Bobby haven't eaten either. I thought it might be nice for you to see someone familiar." To see someone that he actually remembered.

"Yeah, yeah," he managed to grunt.

"Great; I'll, um…I'll meet you downstairs," she whispered. Sirenia closed the door and pressed her shoulder blades into the wood of the door. Her hand still clutched the knob tightly in its grasp, goose bumps crawling up her shoulders and slithering down her arms.

"Si?" Ororo's quiet voice broke into Sirenia's calming breaths.

"I don't know if I can do this, Storm," she whispered to her best friend. "How do I fill him in on everything that's gone on in the last fifty years without hurting him? How do I tell him the things that we've experienced, that we've gone through together? He'll only blame himself for things that aren't his fault, things that can't be changed."

"I don't know how you tell him, sweetheart. But I do know that you have to tell him. You're the only person who knows Logan's history, the full truth of it. You know more than even the professor, I think." Storm wrapped her hand around her friend's wrist and tugged her from the doorway. "What I do know is that you have tell him the truth. The whole truth. You have to tell him about your powers, about Striker, about the lab. Even if he blames himself, he has to know the truth."

She gently shoved the girl down the stairs. "Go and make some breakfast. Hank and I are starving and everyone knows that your breakfasts are the best in the house."

Linking her arm through her friend's to make sure that she couldn't escape, Sirenia looked up at Storm. "You and Hank work up quite an appetite last night, did you?" she asked, smiling sweetly at the white haired woman. "My, my. You two must have had quite the chess match upstairs last night." Storm pursed her lips and growled under her breath. "Or were you two debating the newest scientific journal?"

"You really aren't funny," Storm grumbled. "And what Hank and I did last night is none of your business."

"There's more than one way to skin a cat, my dear Ororo. I can find out because you tell me, or I can find out a different way," Sirenia promised. "Either way, I will find out. Now, back to our discussion. I was hoping that after I bury the dagger in my chest and explain everything to my husband, you could take me to the beach."

"Are you going to run away again, Sirenia?" the methodic voice asked her as she reached the bottom step. Charles Xavier hadn't changed in all the years that she had known him. His chair glided off the ground, obeying his every command. Sirenia had never figured out if he used telekinesis to power it or something from modern technology. "I was rather hoping you would stay this time," he continued, watching her foot hit the bottom stair.

"I just need a nice long swim, Professor. I just need to get back to that again," she told him. Besides, if everything played out like she was thinking it would, she would need the escape at the end of this conversation.

Logan felt his heart beat out of his chest as he descended the stairs yet again. Everyone was alive. Everyone was safe. Anything that had happened to him in the years in between was fine. He would just have to handle whatever came with the time that he had forgotten. "Rogue, if you pick at my potatoes again, I'm going to amputate your hand," he heard someone warning. "Hank, if you eat another slice of bacon—" The threat was unfinished when Logan crossed the threshold into the kitchen.

Hank was already putting the bacon in his hand down on the tray once again. Rogue had her hands clasped in front of her. Bobby was sitting down on the countertop beside Rogue, not moving a muscle. Storm and Sirenia were both standing before the stove, mixing something or another. In the background, a plate was levitated in the air, a scrub brush scraping at its surface. "If you want something to do with your hands, Hank McCoy, you can dry the dishes," Sirenia said. Her voice held no venom, but the way that everyone in the kitchen moved to do her bidding told Logan that she was clearly the person in charge of everything. "Logan," she said suddenly, realizing that he was standing there, watching them.

The plate would've clattered into the sink if Beast hadn't caught the thing. It took Sirenia but a moment to get herself back together. "Wanna go for a walk?" Logan asked her softly.

"Yeah…Um, O, could you—"

"I've got it. Take some coffee with you, though. Everyone knows what the two of you are like i you don't have some caffeine in you," Storm said quietly. She shot Sirenia a look of sympathy before the couple disappeared out the back door.

Sirenia wasn't sure what to do next. A part of her brain told her that she should slip her hand into his. It would be the most natural thing in the world in her brain. Of course, she strongly suspected that, in his brain, it was far from natural to be holding hands with a woman that he couldn't remember. "So, all Charles has told me is that you do things with water," Logan said, clearing his throat to ease the lump that had formed there.

"Things might be putting it mildly," she muttered, still looking at the ground that she was walking over. She walked into the shadow cast by the large tree in the yard. The morning due was clinging to the leaves and blades of grass. She turned around to face him, watching him come closer to her. She didn't even lift a finger, simply looked down at the ground. The droplets rose from the ground and congealed in front of her, forming one large bubble of water in front of her. "Anything that has water in it, or the molecules to make it at least, I can control it. I can freeze it, melt it, steam it, anything." She formed the water into a rose, crystalline and beautiful.

"Where are you from?" Logan asked, wanting to know this little woman that was his wife.

"I was born in the water," Sirenia continued, changing the rose into a solid figurine of horse. "Or, at least, that's what my mother used to say. If I went anywhere else, my mother never told me."

"And your parents…are they…?"

"I never knew my father. And they—they killed my mother when I was ten," she breathed. "Then they tied some weights around my ankles and threw me into the ocean." Logan frowned at her. "But that was years ago. Nothing to worry about now." She parted the figurine into the due droplets again and put them on the ground. "I lived in the ocean until I was—I don't know how old I was. I stopped aging when I was twenty-three."

_That would explain a lot,_ Logan thought, looking over her softly formed features and gentle curves. "But how old are you?" he asked her.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to ask a woman her age?" Sirenia retorted. "Especially when she doesn't know it herself. The professor thinks that you and I are probably about the same age, but there's no way to know for certain. I spent so much time underwater, avoiding people, avoiding everything, I lost track of time. The next major thing that happened, at least that I remember, is the lab."

"Striker's lab?" Logan demanded. He knew that it was where they'd met, but he still felt the need for confirmation. She walked to the pool, stripping out of her morning clothes and dipping her feet into the pool.

Smiling as the feel of the water touched her skin, Sirenia dropped the last of her clothing and jumped into the water once again. Once her head was submerged, the scales began crawling up her legs, dotting her hands, crawling across her chest and covering her nudeness. This was as she'd been when Logan had first met her. "You're a mermaid?" Logan asked as she surfaced again, tossing her hair behind her. The green had begun to streak through it, coloring the solid black mane. Her face remained free of shimmering scales, though he didn't think they would've detracted from her beauty.

"Some people have called me that. My mother's people called us sirens," she whispered. "They used to say that we kidnapped men and dragged them to the bottom of the ocean to eat them." She shook her head laughingly. "We saved men and buried the ones that we couldn't save. That's the only reason that I went to the surface again. My mother told me that we were given our powers to help people, to save the sailors who fell overboard and would've died anyways."

"And you ended up in Striker's lab? With me?"

"And Kurt," Sirenia added in. "I don't know what he was trying to do to you in your history, but in ours… He was turning you into some kind of super soldier. He wanted you because of your healing abilities, but when he discovered the claws, he wanted to weaponize you."

"Adamantium," Logan replied.

"They were trying to make the perfect soldier. Your healing and your claws, my ability to breath underwater, and Kurt's ability to transport. You would be the perfect soldier. You would be able to get in and out of anything, heal from any wound, kill anyone."

"And breathing underwater?"

"I guess just a bonus. I think that Striker just liked torching people and I was someone that he could do that to," she replied softly. Logan could see the pain scrawled across her face, the memories that were twisting her features. He would never know all that she had sacrificed, though. Everything that she had given up because of him. And he would never know that she was willing to do it all over again. At least, he wouldn't know anymore.

"How did you get out of there?"

"You saved me."


	7. Chapter VII

**Author's Note: Hello all my lovely readers! Okay, so because of the overwhelming response I got in regards to the previous chapter, I have made a decision. No more review requirements. I saw what I was looking for. That being said, I still ****_love_**** reviews. They're what make want to post another chapter for you guys. They tell me if I need to explain something more in depth. And they help me identify problems. **

**Like the fact that there were several complaints about the length of the chapters. So, from now, we're shooting for slightly longer chapters. Okay? Enjoy!**

**Chapter VII**

"How? How did I save you?" he asked her, needing to hear the words. He'd been told by everyone else, but, if she was to be believed, she was the one who knew everything about him. "I need to know."

Sirenia knew that she should tell him everything. She knew that it would only be fair that he knew the truth, the _whole_ truth. Knowing all of this, she couldn't force the words out of her throat. She couldn't give him her demons to deal with, when she knew that he had so many of his own to fight. "When the adamantium was fused with your bones, I was sure that you had died. You did or went to sleep or whatever it is that happens to you. Charles thinks that the reason you woke up the way you did was because of the adrenaline that would've been in your system. Whatever it was, you woke up and broke through the chains that were holding you down." Sirenia felt the chills race down her spine, remembering him rising from the water, the scream that had thundered from him. "You left through one of the drainage lines."

Logan frowned, watching her dive beneath the surface. She had said that he had brought her with him, that he had saved her. But she hadn't said that _they_ had left. She had said that _he_ had walked out through one of the drainage lines. So, where she had been while he was escaping? He couldn't exactly ask the question when she sitting at the bottom of the twelve-foot pool. All he could see were shimmering blue-green scales, scales that climbed up her waist and chest. She looked exactly like a typical mermaid, exactly like the pictures and movies that existed.

Realizing that she was hiding from him, Logan stripped out of his shirt and slipped into the pool. The water was cold, but not frigid. The water rippled around him as he waded to the deepest area, diving in at the same point where he'd seen Sirenia disappear, swimming to where he could see the blob that was Sirenia, sitting at the bottom of the pool. Her hair was floating around her cream-skinned form, her scales glittering and bright with the sun streaming through the water. The pool's water blurred his vision, but he could see that she was sitting tight. He suspected that she had her knees pressed against her chest, her arms wrapped around them, but he wasn't certain.

Sirenia watched him swim to the bottom of the pool, her vision crystal clear beneath the liquid. She sternly told herself not to move. She'd been so careful about not pushing him to come to her, about coming to him and leaving him alone the moment that she thought that he was getting upset. _But,_ she told herself sternly,_ our relationship won't work if I don't ask something from him, too_.

So, she sat still, waited until he got to her, his jeans hanging low on his hips from being dragged in the water. Gently, he grasped her arm and pushed off the bottom of the pool, taking her with him. She heard his ears pop as they surfaced, felt the shower from him throwing his hair back. "Jesus, how do you do that?" he panted, realizing that he was completely out of shape. His lungs had felt near to bursting. "You were sitting down there for at least three minutes."

"Humans can hold their breath for as long as seven minutes," she deflected. "And I did tell you that I could breath underwater." Sirenia knew now that she was a weak creature; even Logan's soft hold, that was absolutely as far from romantic as possible, her skin was melting. Just feeling his rough calluses against her scaled skin was fantastic. "Here's another fun fact," she snapped when she felt him drawing her closer, desperation putting an edge to her voice. What little strength she had would disappear faster than a lightning strike if she was against his chest. "I am quite adept at swimming," she added, gently pushing away from his chest.

"You said that _I_ left. You said nothing about you leaving with me. I want to know the whole story, Sirenia," he insisted, treading water only a few inches away from her.

"I said that you left because _you_ did. You left me there." She licked her lips, wishing that he wouldn't ask his next question, knowing that he would.

"But you said—"

"You came back for me, Logan. Two days later." Logan felt his heart stutter. He could only imagine how angry Striker had been when he'd left. "You used to say that you had no idea what told you to come back to the lab that day." _But I'll never regret it, Si, he'd told her one morning, stroking her hair and kissing her so tenderly, she wanted to cry._ Of course, she couldn't tell him that part. "You came back two days after you left and got me and Kurt out. Kurt teleported the moment that he was free of that place. I was…injured. You took me with you because, and I quote, 'Look lady, you won't survive one night on your own. You can get your ass in my car and you can die.'"

"Not my most romantic moment," Logan said, his lips quirking a smile. It was the first time she'd seen it since he'd woken up the previous morning. "So…What next?" he asked her.

Feeling more comfortable than she had since Charles had told her about Logan's memory loss, Sirenia dove beneath the water, swimming beneath his bare feet and popping up behind his back. "We drove for days. That was when we discovered that the scales dry out if I'm out of water for too long," she explained. Logan spun around to watch her, taking in the way that her eyes were nearly glittering and her lips were curled in a smile.

"Of course, that's also when we found out that I have to get into a pool of water at least once every week or I'll die. We—I had some pretty close calls until we figured it out. That's when you started fighting, by the way," she continued.

"Ah, so that happens here, too."

"It does. I was a pretty good pickpocket. We used to take enough for gas and a little bit of food, but because of me and my condition, we had to find a way to get more money. Once a week, we stopped in a hotel. I would spend the night in a bathtub and you would watch movies on the television. The next morning, we were gone. Most days before the sun rose. Some of the places we stayed at weren't too mutant friendly. We were harassed some and had our fair share of skirmishes, but you always protected us.

"For a while, we were truckers. After one particularly close call, I'd had to be admitted to a hospital. The bills that we racked up at that place… You had to sell the truck that we'd been living out of to pay them off. Trucking was an easy fix to that. The rig was big enough that we were able to sleep in it. We only had to stop somewhere if we couldn't find a body of water to submerge in. Of course, the best laid plans often go awry. The trucking company you were working for found out that you took me with you everywhere you went, which was a liability they couldn't allow. And if that wasn't enough for them to want to fire you, they found out that we mutants."

"And then I began fighting?" Logan asked her. Sirenia nodded slowly, winging herself backwards so they were heading towards the shallower end of the pool again. "That's how I remember things. But, I mean—You… Look, I'm sure that this isn't what you want to hear—"

"I wasn't a part of that," Sirenia filled in for him. "It's okay, Logan. I know that you don't remember me. We can't really pretend that you do. Besides, this is supposed to be a history of you. I'm just here to fill in what you don't remember." Logan's feet touched the ground, his arms itching for something that he couldn't quite explain or identify. "You started fighting after you lost your position as a trucker. We were up in the northern states, fighting around the Canadian border, when we met Rogue."

"In a bar?" Logan guessed, hoping that at least this had remained the same.

"Is that where you met her in your history?" she asked him. God how she wished that he was remembering the history that she had lived with him. But when he nodded, what little hope she'd been fighting to contain, died. "Rogue had just killed her first boyfriend by kissing him. She'd been running away from home when we met her. It was at one of your last fights, in a little nasty underground club behind a bar."

"And the guy that I beat came to the bar because he'd lost," Logan filled in. Sirenia tossed her head back and laughed, the sound musical and soft. Her lips parted, revealing a set of teeth so white, they could've been pearls.

"You know, I hadn't thought that your ego could get any larger than it was," she chuckled. "Guess I was wrong. No; the guy came in looking for you and found me and Rogue instead. He decided we were worth a little more money that what he would've won in that fight anyway."

"He was going to—"

"Yeah; he was," she cut in. "You were…" A laugh cut into her speech, cutting her off. "We could say that you weren't quite amiable to that idea. And when the claws came out, literally, we were found out as mutants and kicked out of the bar. We didn't even get the full cut of the money that we'd been promised. We jumped in our shit camper and drove away."

"And Rogue hitched a ride?"

"Give the man a prize," Sirenia replied. "We were attacked by the Brotherhood. Of course, this was before Magneto found the light again. He and the Professor were like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The Professor has always believed that words can solve problems, that talking things through can fix things. Magneto always felt that actions spoke louder than words. For a long time, he ran this group. The Bro—"

"The Brotherhood of Mutants. Yeah; they were around," Logan cut in.

"Well, they're still around. They just don't do what they used to. They're still active, more than we are. But now they work for the government. They're part of a division of mutant soldiers," she continued. "But back then, they were pretty violent. We were attacked, and saved, and brought here."

_Where I almost ruined everything,_ Logan thought to himself, remembering the dream he'd had. "We've been here ever since," Sirenia concluded. "Oh, let's see," she muttered, pretending like she was having trouble remembering everything they'd gone through. Or, maybe she was. Logan couldn't be sure. He was sure that she looked like something out of a fairytale romance novel when she rose from the water.

The water ran in rivulets down her spine and curves, outlining her scaled body. She was covered from waist to toes in the multicolored sequin-like plates. Her stomach and midriff were bare, up until the area just below her breasts. They started again there, covering her breasts like some kind of bikini. There were some of the scales on her hands, crawling up her arms as well, but for the most part, her arms were the same creamy white color as her face. Strands of her hair had turned green, as well. Almost like seaweed.

"We were here to help out with a few of the more…major problems they faced. After that, we officially became part of the X-Men. You even have a leather uniform. It's not quite as attractive as Hank's, but really who can compete with the blue and yellow and the whole open vest thing?" Logan heard himself chuckle as he watched her towel herself off. She was less confusing than she'd been before, more open. She was acting more like herself. Or, who he guessed she would be. But her behavior and the smile that she gave him where almost like those that he'd seen in that picture.

"I was here for a few years before I started teaching. Storm became the guidance counselor and I started teaching P.E. courses, taking over her stuff. Then, one day, Hank was busy and he couldn't teach his history course. So, you stepped in," she explained, pulling her clothing over her skin. "We discovered that you're quite good at history, since you kind of lived a lot of what you teach."

"I remember who I am?" he asked her.

"Back to the beginning of the First World War," Sirenia replied. "You didn't have those memories in your history?" Logan shook his head, taking the steps slowly and following her out of the pool. "Well, you were able to teach most everything a little better than a textbook. Besides, as much as you'll tell me I'm wrong, you enjoy working with the kids."

"And then we got married?" he asked her

The light in her eyes died so swiftly, Logan did not know quite how to fix it. "Yeah; we got married. And then you woke up with amnesia," she said. "That's everything between then and now. We should go. Breakfast is probably ready."


	8. Chapter VIII

**Author's Note: Okay, so I'm requiring reviews...and I know that I missed a chapter Thursday. I had a math exam (and math is the bane of my existence). That being said, the next chapter will be up Monday. ****_Unless_**** you lovely, lovely readers feel you will perish without the next chapter, which I'm super excited for. If I receive five reviews, I could be persuaded to post the chapter tomorrow. It's up to you! Enjoy!**

**Chapter VIII**

"Do you think I should've told him everything?" Sirenia asked both girls, resting her scaled legs in the ocean water. It felt good, almost like home. Of course, Logan wasn't at her side which made it less like home. "What am I even asking for? I shouldn't have told him. It would have ruined him. He thinks that this world is so much better than the one that he knew. How do I tell him that it's probably about the same here?" she asked, resting herself in the sand and looked over at the guidance counselor.

"I thought you said that you told him everything," Jean asked, turned her head to look at the mermaid.

"I told him everything that happened after Striker's lab," Sirenia replied. "Well, I paraphrased. I couldn't tell him about all of it, Jean. I told him the stuff that I thought he'd be interested in knowing and I left it at that." Her swim that she had taken hadn't exhausted her as much as she'd been hoping. At the moment, she was dying to dive beneath the water and stay there for the rest of her life. "I couldn't find a way to tell him."

"So letting him believe that everything is fine was the decision that you made? You're his wife, Sirenia. You don't get to play God with his life," Jean retorted, pushing upright so that she could see the girl she was talking to.

"You know what, Jean, you had a chance and you chose Scott. So back the hell off of my relationship!" Sirenia snapped.

"Seriously? You're going there? I've told you that nothing happened!" Jean retorted.

The two began to snap at each other, their voices growing louder and louder as the two shouted over each other. Storm finally shoved to her feet and kicked sand at each of them. "You," she snarled, pointing at Jean's red head, "go get ice cream or something and go sit in the car. You," she growled, pointing at Sirenia's blue-black hair, "go for a swim to clear your head." Neither woman at her side moved. "Now!" she commanded in a sharp voice. Both women quickly slid away to do her bidding, leaving Ororo to stand in the sand alone for a few more minutes. "If I didn't already have grey hair," she trailed off scathingly.

The sand dragged at her feet as she headed back to the car, knowing that it was the best place to wait for Sirenia. "You don't really think any of us believe that nothing happened bullshit, do you?" Storm shouted over the roaring sea, coming up alongside the woman who was like a sister to her. "Least of all me and Si. I know you too well and she knows Logan." Jean just kept licking away at her ice cream. "We all know that something happened, but that doesn't mean that you get to keep torturing Sirenia with it. Don't you think she has enough on her plate?"

"I'm not torturing her with anything," Jean countered. "I'm just saying, if I held the pieces of a man's past, I wouldn't lie to him about them. Logan deserves to know everything about himself that she knows."

"But he's not _your_ husband, Jean. You don't get to make that decision. Sirenia has known him longer than all of us have. She knows what he can and cannot handle. Leave it alone," Storm insisted. "Meddling in their relationship will only cause problems in yours." The two women got in the car, the heater blasting to do away with the beach chill, and waited for Sirenia to come back.

Sirenia felt the water engulfing her, felt it pulling her hair around her head and face. The water was safe, familiar. It was comforting to know that she could curse and scream and sob and no one would hear her. And screaming was about all she wanted to do. She wanted to scream at Jean for the things that had happened between her and Logan. She wanted to scream at Kitty for sending Logan back to 1973, even though the young woman had know idea that she had. She wanted to scream at Charles and Scott and Hank.

Sadly, she wanted to scream at Logan for forgetting her _again_.

Maybe she should've told him about Kayla and Striker and Victor and everything that had happened. She wasn't all that sure of what he'd known in his history, so she couldn't be sure what she would be shocking him with. There was also the idea that he might have known something similar in his past. There were many similarities, she was discovering, between what he knew and what had actually happened. And maybe, just maybe, he would understand. He'd understood before.

She gently kicked towards the surface, knowing that she couldn't sit in the ocean forever. Not like before, when she'd been a child. She couldn't hide beneath the surface anymore. She had to go home and face her demons. "If it wasn't for the fact that i know you can breathe underwater, I would worry that you'd drowned," Ororo said the moment that Sirenia surfaced. "Professor just called. We have to get back to the mansion. Now."

"You could've asked Jean to get in touch with me," Sirenia retorted as she picked up the coverup that she'd brought with her.

"I don't think she really wants to be inside your head, sweetie. You might be plotting her murder."

"I am not angry enough to be plotting anyone's murder," Sirenia grumbled, using the showers to hose the sand from her feet. It was hard to ignore the people that stared at her legs, that acted like she was some kind of monster, but it was worth it to hear the little girls squeal in delight at the mermaid who had washed up on the beach. "We should get going," she added, jogging to the car, but not saying a word.

The drive back home was silent, slightly tense. Storm drove like the road was going to crumble in front of them if they didn't get there fast enough. Jean stared at the window, obviously afraid to open her mouth and say something that would piss the mermaid in the back of the car off. Sirenia just focused on drying her legs off and willing the scales to go away so that she could put her clothing on again. The scales tended to snag on fabrics and, being connected to her skin, the pulling tended to hurt.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Jean said suddenly, her voice soft. The rustling of her hair against her setback warned Sirenia that the redhead was turning around. "I just think that it's unfair for Logan to be unaware of any part of his history." And Sirenia couldn't help but agree with the woman. The Logan she had married would want to know that the entirety of his past. The reality, whether Sirenia wanted to acknowledge it or not, her husband would find out one way or another. Whether she told him or someone else came to visit and he found out, he would know the whole truth.

_Better he hear it from me than from someone else,_ she told herself sternly. _It would be one thing if I was only telling him the things that had happened, but the moment that I explain _**_my_**_ part of it…_ She trailed off in her head, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. Logan needed to know. He needed to know about what had happened with Kayla and Victor and Striker. He needed to know the full truth, not the watered down version that she had given him.

At least, that was what she'd told herself until she and the girls were pulling up to the house and Logan was standing there waiting. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't ruin his happiness. That was exactly what would happen the moment that she told him . Trying to tell him would only frazzle her brain, anyways. He would ask her to repeat things and, since she'd probably be crying, she wouldn't be able to. It would only frustrate the both of them. There had to be another way.

_The letter!_ she realized.

"I'll meet you guys in the office," Sirenia said suddenly, jumping out of the car, nearly brushing by Logan. _Sirenia,_ the Professor's voice said sternly in her voice. _I need you now. You can find the letter after. I'll give you time to pack._ Time to pack? He was sending them away again. Lovely. Just when she'd decided on a course of action, she was going to have to leave.

"You guys were gone for a while," Logan said suddenly, grabbing her arm and pulling her to a stop. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah; everything is just fine," she replied. "Storm, he wants us in the office." _How could I have forgotten that damn letter? This was the whole reason that I wrote the damn thing_, she chastised herself as she walked to the office, not noticing the way that Logan stared after her. Her sole focus was to get to the office and get out so that she could find that damn letter. He could reread and reread and think things through. He would know everything and be able to process. And, most importantly, she wouldn't be there if he felt her at fault. She'd just been in such shock over Logan's amnesia, she couldn't remember anything. For two days, she'd been wallowing in self pity. It wasn't the woman that she was and she needed to shake herself out of it.

"Fast like lightening, Charles. I have to go," Sirenia said the moment that she was in the office.

"Jean and Ororo are not even in this room. You will have to wait for a moment, Sirenia," the Professor said laughingly, though Sirenia could still see the seriousness in his eyes. He understood what she needed to do. "Ladies, thank you for coming home early. There is a mutant not far from here, but her parents will need some convincing to allow her to come. I would like for the three of you to go to Virginia and bring her back."

"Three of us have to go for one girl?" Storm asked, her head cocked slightly to the side.

"Her parents are…combative to say the least," Charles replied. "I'm not expecting you gone for more than five days. Just enough to get paperwork dealt with and an extra day for convincing some stubborn parents."

"So, nothing out of the ordinary," Jean replied. "I'll go pack."

"I'll put together a file for the girl," Storm said, turning around and walking away instantly.

"And I have something to do as well," Sirenia smiled, heading for the door.

"Sirenia," the Professor called, stopping her at the doorframe. "You are doing the right thing in telling him. He won't hate you for it."

Slowly, she turned around and faced him, the sad look coming back to her eyes. "You can't know that, Professor. We won't know what he thinks until he reads the letter." She turned around and walked over to the man who had helped her marriage more than he would ever know, who had helped Logan see the light through all the darkness. She pressed her lips against the man's cheek and smiled at him. "I'm just grateful that I'll be gone. And that you'll be here to help him," she whispered. "You'll have to help him, Charles. We both know that he's going to react poorly to what's in that letter."

"But we both know that he _needs_ what's in that letter. He won't be happy until he has it," Charles replied.

With those words and a curt nod, Sirenia ran up the stairs to the room that she had promised she wouldn't go in until Logan wanted her there. The picture that she'd left for him wasn't sitting on the dresser when she burst through the door, though. Her heart stopped beating for a moment. Had he gotten rid of it? The dam letter was in that picture and now she couldn't give it to him. "Can I help you?" he asked, his voice called. Sirenia wasn't sure if she was being tortured or had been sent to heaven.

"Logan!" she gasped, swirling around to look at him.

"That'd be my name," he replied. "Are you looking for something?"

"I left a picture here. I need it," she said simply.

"Are you…you're not taking it, are you?" he asked her, a strange hesitancy in his voice.

"No; I left it here for you. Where is it?" she demanded, knowing that Storm would be wanting them to leave soon. Logan pointed to the nightstand, the frame facing his pillow. Sirenia reached for it and pulled the backing from it quickly, digging for the papers that she'd hidden behind it ages ago. "I knew that you would never look behind a picture. It's a miracle you even know how to put a frame together," she whispered, feeling the weight of the ink on the pages in her fingers. "Because I knew that you wouldn't be happy if you knew that I had written this."

Logan frowned at her. What could it possibly be that she had seen a reason to hide it from him? "In light of recent events, I'm glad that I wrote this. So," she sighed and held the pages out for him to take, "I leave it in you hands. This has all the answers that you're looking for. Even the one's that I was too chicken shit to give you." When his hand came forward to grasp the pages, she took advantage of it and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "Please don't hate me when you read it," she whispered.

Confused, Logan watched his wife walk out of the room, leaving him alone. She'd told him about their history. So why did he need a letter too? The answers that she was too chicken shit to give him? It all made no sense. So he opened the papers, deciding that reading was the only way to figure out this mystery.

_Dear Logan,_

_I really hope that you will never have to read this, but I'm sure you will. Nothing in our lives has ever been perfect…but you don't remember any of that, do you? I guess I'll just have to start at the beginning…_


	9. Chapter IX

**Author's Note: As promised, here is the lovely letter chapter. Tomorrow, or later today I guess it is, you guys will see something major happening. It's the start of not only a little action, but some major romance! Also, if anyone is interested, I have a new story up called ****_Chasing the Sun_****. Enjoy!**

**Chapter IX**

_Dear Logan,_

_I really hope that you will never have to read this, but I'm sure you will. Nothing in our lives has ever been perfect…but you don't remember any of that, do you? I guess I'll just have to start from the beginning. I guess I'll just have to give you the entire truth, from the very beginning. If I repeat things that you already know, I'm sorry. But it's the only way I know to be thorough in this situation._

_You were born James Logan Howlett in 1834. The night that you discovered your "claws" was the night that you killed your father…and discovered that your best friend, Victor Logan, was also your brother. The two of you went on the run, knowing that you'd be caught and hanged for killing your father, Thomas. I can tell you that it was an accident, that I know it was an accident. You were so distraught that day, realizing that the man who you'd called father really wasn't your father. And the man who was had killed the one who wasn't. I'm probably not making any sense to you._

_In 1862, you discovered that you couldn't die. You and your brother had enlisted in the American Army and fought for the Northern States during the Civil War. You were shot and you both thought that you would died, but in the end, you simply healed. The army became a kind of home base for the two of you. Once you had joined the army, you'd found a place to belong. At least, that's how you explained it to me, once upon a time. You waited until people started to notice that you weren't quite aging. Then, the two of you would skip town, or allow someone to think that you were dead._

_You and Victor fought in most every war the Americans have been involved in: the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam. You and I met in 1956, during your time served in Korea. You had brought some lovely young woman to a lagoon. I think your intentions were to seduce her or something, but you found me in the water. To say the least, I scared the woman that you'd brought with you for a little fun. You were the first person that I had ever met who was anything like me. You tried to kill me, the first time that we met. You couldn't bring yourself to do it, though. It's how I knew that I could trust you. We became friends; good friends._

_After Korea, you and Victor came back to the United States. That's where the two of us got to really know each other. The two of us, and Victor, lived in a small town in Rhode Island. It was quiet, peaceful. It was as good a place as any. Because of where you were born and what you called home, I think you always favored the cold, Northern climates. It's one of those things that we disagree on. I hate the damn cold; the water turns to ice and I get trapped. I got my wish a few years later, though; you and your brother were stationed in Vietnam after a ten year break._

_There was one thing that continued to be common, throughout the wars you two fought in. Victor was getting out of control. From the way you've told it, you knew after World War I that he was losing control. He liked to kill people. You liked to be with your brother. You didn't care what it was you had to do; you had to stay with Victor. It wasn't until the Vietnam War that your realized Victor might be at the point of no return. He killed countless Vietnamese men and, on the day that you two were sentenced to death, he killed ten American soldiers as well._

_In 1972, there was a firing squad that was forced to kill you. Obviously, it didn't work. It couldn't work. The two of you were thrown in a prison cell, the intention being that you rot there for the rest of your lives. That's when we met Striker. He offered you and Victor a position in his band of misfits. You always let me know where you were traveling to and I always followed. Our friendship always irked Victor, from the time when we first met. I don't like to kill; I hate it even more than you do. I used to be the person that you went to, every single day, to talk to. You hated the killing that you had to do. You were always careful, Logan. Always careful that you didn't hurt people who were innocent. Victor saw me as a sign of weakness. _

_The last mission that you went on was in 1979. By that time, you were so tired of hurting people, or killing people, of being Striker's lackey, the trip was especially difficult. You went to Africa, looking for a meteor fragment. Adamantium. You went to Africa to find adamantium. When Victor lost control there, you gave him the choice: he could come with you, or he could stay. I think it's fairly obvious that he didn't come with us._

_You and I, however, left. I think that you wanted to forget that you'd ever had a part of him. You changed your name from James to Logan. You wouldn't even let me call you that anymore. For three years, we lived in peace. I always hung close around to you. You were the first friend that I'd ever made. And I was the first person that you'd met, other than Victor, who could live as long as you two had. I'll never tell you my age, Logan, but I will tell you that I'm older than you. You always made sure to find somewhere to live that was close to water. I've swum up streams and creeks to get to the lakes that you'd found._

_In 1982, you met Kayla. I never knew her last name and I only got to meet her once. It wasn't a month after you met her that I was caught. I was taken to Striker's lab. He was trying to make you into the perfect soldier. In order to make the perfect soldier, however, he needed to find the perfect mutants. There were parts of each of us that he went after. He experimented on me for years. He drew blood. He injected serums. The worst, however, was that he dried me out. It's the only way to kill me; at least the only that I know of. He would hang me underneath heat lamps, strung up like a pig to slaughter. He tortured me with the knowing that he'd taken you from me. He'd told me that he put Kayla on your path for a reason and that I would only get in the way. _

_From what you've told me, Kayla gave you a letter that I'd left under a rock for you. It said that I couldn't be stuck waiting for you for the rest of my life. It said that I was leaving. Sometimes, I think your brain stops working when you see a pretty girl. You honestly believed that I, who didn't know how to walk until you taught me in the 80s, had written a letter and swam away from you. With me out of the picture, though, Kayla was able to do whatever Striker had told her to do._

_In 1985, I was taken from one facility for another. They threw me in a river outside of your home and, for a moment, I thought that I was free. I guess that just shows how naive I was. Striker used me and your love for Kayla. You discovered me only a few hours before she took you to work and you found her dead. There was no time for me to warn you. I was so damn weak, even you were worried about me. When Kayla was killed, you were devastated. Striker had finally found a way to hurt you. He had your brother kill the woman that you loved. You told me once, though, that losing Kayla wasn't nearly as terrifying as when you'd found my blood and my tail on the banks that day. You said that victor killing your best friend was the worst thing you could have possibly imagined. _

_You lost it. You hunted him down. You went after him. When that wasn't enough, you found Striker. You've never said it with the slightest amount of anger, but I know that you blame me. I was the reason that you chose to get your skeleton fused with adamantium. You wanted to become indestructible; wanted to make sure you could kill him. When you found out that Kayla wasn't dead, though, that she'd been a part of a trick all along…I don't think furious is an accurate word to describe what you were. _

_Even using my powers, I've never been able to get you to tell me the truth. You'll only tell me that a fight happened, that you almost died. You got all of us out, though. Every single one of us survived because of you, including me. They hadn't killed me, Logan. They had to make it look like I was dead. They cut off my fin or flipper or whatever the hell you used to call it. They left a trail for you to follow that led them right back into their trap._

_To this day, you tell me that you've never been angry at me. You said that you love me. You have done everything but yell at me, even when I had to tell you everything that I know once before. You came back to the lab to find me, but Striker had already strung me and left me to die on the Island. You came there and found me. You got all of us out of that hell, Logan. And the last thing that you told me was that I needed to bring us and all those kids to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Striker shot you then, using adamantium bullets._

_When you woke up, you remembered nothing and tried to kill me. Hopefully you aren't planning on making that a pattern. You helped us escape the Island, but no matter how much I tried to tell you that we were supposed to go to the school, you refused. We ended up being pickpockets, truckers, fighters. I even stripped for a little while. We did anything that we could to keep ourselves alive, to keep ourselves going. _

_In the year 2000, we met Rogue. Or, I suppose I should say, Rogue found us and hitched a ride…_

Logan knew the rest, even as he read it over to make sure. Sirenia had lied to him before. She'd told him that they'd met after Striker's lab, but her letter said differently. In her letter, she made it clearly that they'd met in 1956. It made no sense. None of what was in her letter was really making sense. It was just as he remembered things being in his history. Obviously, he hadn't changed much of anything. Except for the fact that he'd met Sirenia. And, if her letter was to be believed, Kayla hadn't ever felt anything for him.

_You were right to tell me that we needed to come to the school. Professor Xavier helped you find all of the memories that were buried in your brain. They weren't all there and they weren't al perfect. In fact, most of them are damaged. But I think that knowing that you could remember them somewhere in your brain gave you peace of mind. It made you think that I was telling you the truth, not just telling you some story that made you want to fall in love with me. Coming to the school was our saving grace and, in a way, our demise._

_You were instantly in love with Jean. To this day, I can't bring myself to ask you what really went n between the two of you. Even if I could make you tell me, which you have found ways around, I'm not entirely certain that I __want__ to know what happened. Maybe it's one of those things that are better off forgotten. Maybe if you don't remember if and I don't tell you… I guess that defeats the purpose of writing this letter, doesn't it? And yes, I did sit down and write the whole thing out as opposed to using some of the technology around us. We're old fashioned, Logan. We've both been around this world too damn long to forget the important things. _

_I know that you didn't want me to write this letter, Logan. You've been trying to talk me out of it for days. All you've kept saying to me is that you couldn't forget me. I took some of my favorite pictures and shoved them in an envelope, as well. You will forget me, Logan. The Professor said that it's going to happen one way or another. I hope that, when I have to tell you, you won't hate me. I'm the reason there was a rift between you and your brother. I'm the reason that you became the Wolverine. I'm even the reason that you lost all of your memories. There's a part of me that wishes that I could go back, that wishes that I could stop this from happening. If I could just warn you, stop you from putting yourself through all that pain… I know that I'm to blame. I do; I just hope that you can forgive me once again. I hope that you can find a way to love me again. _

_Because I will always love you. Forever and for always. _

_Sirenia Howlett_

Logan set the papers aside, but the words on the page wouldn't disappear. He could still see them in front of him, before his eyes. She had lied to him when she'd told him about when they met, but Logan could see now that t was because she blamed herself. Foolishly, this girl blamed herself for things that would've happened with or without her. She saw herself as the root of all of his problems.

He lunged for the picture frame again, reaching in to find the envelope that she had mentioned in the letter. The pictures were flat, flatter than he remembered pictures being, but he supposed that was because of modern technology. Regardless, he pulled the images from the envelope, interested to see what existed of the two of them.

The first image had somehow been restored, but Logan could tell that it was old. He was sitting on a beach, in Korea, if he didn't miss his guess. Sirenia was sitting next to him, her head resting against his shoulder and her eyes closed against the sun's rays, her tail spread out in the water before them. She looked exactly the same as she had that very morning. Except that she had a tail, a typical mermaid's tail. Like something out of a fairytale.

The next few images were much of the same, always close to the water, where Sirenia was sitting. It wasn't until what would've been years later that he found one of them away from water. Standing at their wedding, if he didn't miss his guess. And even he, the cynic that he tended to be, couldn't ignore the fact that he looked over joyed standing next to her. Sirenia saw herself as the root of every bad thing that had happened to him, but Logan was staring to see that she might not be the cause to his issues.

She might be the solution.


	10. Chapter X

**Author's Note: Okay, all. Here's the next chapter. It's a little on the romantic side, but the mushy-gushy stuff will be in Wednesday's chapters. By the way, while I don't require reviews for the next update, I'll tell you all a little secret: the more reviews I receive, the more likely it is that I'll get the chapter up faster. Enjoy!**

**Chapter X**

"Sirenia, if you keep shake, I'm going to throw you out of the plane," Storm warned. Kylie gasped, staring at the girls in the cockpit.

"She's kidding Kylie," Jean said softly, patting the girl's knee. "Mrs. Howlett and Ms. Munro are best friends. They tend joke around and say things that aren't quite as funny as they think they are. She wouldn't throw Mrs. Howlett out of the plane."

"Not yet, at least," Storm muttered under her breath. "What is it that has you freaking out?" she asked in a soft voice.

"After the Professor told me that Logan would forget everything that he knew after 1973, I kind of got to thinking about things. I sat down and wrote a letter to him, telling him everything that I knew about him," Sirenia replied in the same hushed tone. "I had completely forgotten about it until we went to the beach a few days ago. Right before we left, I ran into our room and grabbed the letter…And then I left him at home to brood over everything. Knowing him, he's probably waiting at home to make me talk about the whole thing."

"Is that such a bad thing? You lied to him Sirenia," Storm muttered.

"I didn't lie. I just didn't tell him about everything that happened before we escaped from Striker's lab. It's not like he remembered much of it anyways, Storm. The bullets to his brain made sure of that."

"That's not true, Si, and you know it. He remembered the first time that you met, back in the 1950s. He remembered fragments of it. Even if I don't think that it was right of Jean to intervene in your affairs, I think we can both agree that not telling him is lying," Ororo muttered.

"I know; I know. But I remember how hard it was for him to swallow the last time that he forgot everything. Finding out about his brother and the things that happened tore him apart. I couldn't bring myself to do that to him again. When we were at the beach, I realized that i couldn't keep him in the dark. It wasn't fair to him. And Jean was right, not telling him was the same as playing God. I had to tell him and I didn't know how." Sirenia just shook her head. "He was never angry at me. Don't you think that it's a little overdue?"

"You went through this before. I would think that you would know how to deal with this. Last time, you just told him. Everything. From the beginning. Is this ringing any bells?" Storm asked her. Sirenia rolled her eyes and stared out the window. "We'll be landing in an hour. Maybe you should think about what it is you're going to do. You know, besides continue to try an hide from your husband."

"I am not hiding," Sirenia tried to argue, but Storm just stared at her.

Sirenia spent the rest of the flight in silence, wondering just what was waiting for her back at the mansion. Jean was explaining to the young mutant that they'd brought in what the school would be like, what her new life would be like. For all that the Professor had said her parents would be difficult to convince, they weren't. The moment that Sirenia and Storm had explained that they were mutants, the couple sat back as if they were going to be attacked. The women might as well have told them they were terrorists. Kylie's parents had given her over instantly, claiming they didn't know what to do with her.

It was a sad, but common, story among the recruits that the Professor sent them to get. It was the reason why he chose the girls to go. Hank was the only one who could keep a level head around such parents; at least, among the men. Logan was wont to grasp fathers by the shoulders and snarl at them, telling them what worthless excuses for human beings and parents that they were. While Scott could keep his cool, he'd been known to ruin a house or two. Or a neighborhood.

"Are you sure that everyone is going to like me?" Kylie asked, her hands shaking a little bit.

"You're a telepath, Kylie. We have a few of them. You'll fit right in," Sirenia replied, though she had to admit that Kylie was unlike any telepath that they had ever seen before. Most could read minds, control thoughts, or move objects. Kylie's only ability was levitation, but she could levitate anything. A car, the plane, a boat. It didn't matter. The girl was one of kind, and yet still a part of a group that was well known.

Sirenia raised a hand against the light that streamed down upon the four of them as they came in from the bunker where the jet was stored. Storm kept a protective arm wrapped around the preteen's shoulders, tucking the girl into her side as they walked up the hallways, through the corridors, to the elevator. The device dinged as they neared, though, halting their advance. "Kylie," Charles said, his chair hovering forward. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier. This is my school." He lunged into the same speech that he gave every new arrival to the school; something Sirenia could easily ignore.

Logan stepped from the elevator behind the professor, but looked directly at Sirenia. She forced herself not to flinch and turn away from his gaze, told herself in a stern voice that she had to face him. She deserved whatever he held for her, be it contempt or loathing. She had ruined everything for him. Her crystalline blue eyes watched him step away from the Professor, take the steps closer to her. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she replied. She looked down at the ground, struggling to think of what to say, of a way to apologize. "You read the letter."

"I did," Logan replied. He noticed that she didn't phrase the sentence as a question. She knew he would read it. She knew that he would talk to her about it. The woman truly did know everything about him. He stared at her for a moment, absorbing the heart shape of her face, the creaminess of her skin, the fullness of her cheeks, the height of her delicate cheekbones. Her hair was thick and lush, so dark, it was astonishing. Her eyes were the most piercing of colors that he'd ever seen. They almost looked teal, the way that she was looking at him.

"I'm sure that you have some questions," Sirenia managed to choke out. He was staring at her. He wasn't saying a word, just looking at her. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking when he did nothing but look at her.

"I do," Logan replied. "Go change."

"Excuse me?" she asked, balking at the command.

"We're leaving. Go change."

"Let me do a little explaining here. We seem to be struggling with the communication side of things," she snapped. Logan couldn't stop the smile that twitched at his lips. She was certainly sarcastic. "In a normal conversation, you tell me where we're going. You see, it serves a couple of purposes. Firstly, it tells me what I'm supposed to put on. Secondly, it tells me where we're going. Since you don't quite remember anything about me, it might be best if I knew where we were going. Just in case you were trying to take me for sushi or something."

"I wouldn't take you out for sushi," Logan said, stepping even closer. Sirenia suddenly realized that they were alone. The Professor, Kylie, the girls, all of them had gone.

"Oh, really? What is it that makes the idea of sushi with me so detestable?" she asked, smiling at him.

"It's not the idea of sushi _with you_ that makes it such a bad idea. It's more the idea of sushi in general. And I do have good reasoning for it," he assured her. "You see, your letter said that you lived in the ocean for most of your life. Which means that you probably made friends with all the fish. And I don't think you look like the type who would eat her friends." Sirenia felt her lips curve as she stared at him. "Besides, I hate sushi."

"Yeah; you've always been more partial to red meat," she replied.

"Go change," Logan commanded again.

"Fine; whatever. You win. I'll meet you out front in five minutes," she agreed.

"I thought that women took a long time to get read," he asked as she backed into the elevator.

"Oh Logan," she chuckled. "If only you could actually remember me. You'd know that I could be ready to walk out of this place right now. But hey, if you want me to change," she trailed off, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Wait a second!" Logan shouted after her. "I've changed my mind. Sirenia!"


	11. Chapter XI

**Author's Note: All right everyone! I warned you all that I liked for stories to develop slowly. Now that we've got the initial exposition over with, we're moving into the romance and action parts of it all. As always, I love the review, so keep them coming. Keep in mind, an overwhelming number of reviews will usually get a new chapter posted within 24 hours. Just a thought! Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XI<strong>

"Why am I not surprised?" Sirenia muttered when she saw Logan leaning against his bike, long legs stretched out to brace him. She had promised him five minutes, and that was all it took her to get ready. She'd just had to spend four of those minutes breathing and recovering from shock. For a brief moment, everything had been normal again. For a split second, he had seemed like her husband again, had _looked_ like her husband again. Oh, she knew nothing about his looks would change. They never had. But the way that he had looked at her, demanded things from her, as he always had…It had shocked her system. It reminded of everything that she had to lose if she didn't fight for him.

Of course, standing against the bike, he looked just like his regular, glorious self, in the same leather jacket that he'd been wearing for decades. "Probably because I'm getting the sense that you know more about me than I do," Logan replied. "Come on." Gently, he took hold of her hand and brought her to the bike, straddling and waiting for her to get on behind him. Tentatively, Sirenia got on the bike and wrapped her arm around his waist.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she pressed her chest against his back, praying that, for once, his hearing wouldn't kick in and he wouldn't be able to gauge the thundering of her heart. She pressed her hand against his chest, feeling his heart underneath her fingertips. It felt so good to hold onto him again, just like she had always done. Her eyes slid closed, the tears stinging at her eyes. Five days and she was missing him more than she could explain.

The bike roared to life. Logan felt her jump behind him, but it wasn't from fear. She didn't smell at all afraid. In fact, everything radiating from her screamed excitement. He'd learned long ago that trusting his instincts was the best way to survive. At least it had been in his history. He'd forgotten everything after Striker's lab, but had learned feelings. When things _felt_ right, he knew that somewhere in him, he knew it or recognized it. He couldn't remember, but he could be reminded of things. And this stranger that was his wife felt like something he'd never experienced before.

He took the roads with ease, still trying to sort out what he was feeling. This woman behind him was completely different from anything he'd ever known. She didn't just feel right. She felt like a part of him that he'd been missing for years. It made the letter that he'd read all the more believable. It didn't all make sense, but he didn't care. He only wanted to get out of the mansion, to ask the questions that he'd been stewing in for three days. God, and the Professor, knew that he'd done nothing but think about her.

The lake was a welcome sight, something that he hoped would please the mermaid behind him. He'd spent three days trying to think of where he could take her, how he could make her comfortable. How he could get all the answers that he was looking for. If his hunch was right, she was the only person who could give them to him. "You brought me to the lake?" she asked, her heart thundering. He couldn't possibly remember this place, how special it was for the two of them. He couldn't know that it was where he'd first kissed her, where he'd first told her that he loved her. This was where every major moment of their romantic lives had occurred.

"I thought you'd like it. Found it the other morning when I went out running," he murmured, not willing to admit that he hadn't been able to stop dreaming about the place, that he'd gone out running with the intention of looking for this place. He watched her walk around, watched her hesitate as she stared at the calm waters before her. "I have questions, Sirenia." He saw her shoulders heave with her sigh before she turned around.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you," she whispered. "I was trying to protect you from the memories. I know that you won't agree with that, and I'm sure that you think that I'm lying. I'm not."

"Why didn't you just give me the letter to start with?" Logan asked, knowing it would be one of the easier questions for her to answer.

"I'd forgotten about it," Sirenia admitted. "I wrote the letter three days after the Professor told me what was going to happen. You were so mad about it," she breathed, a small smile on her lips."You kept telling me that I wasn't going to need the letter and that I was being stupid in writing it."

"I did _not_ call you stupid," Logan countered. "I wouldn't have called you stupid."

Sirenia let out an exasperated chuckle. "I'm sorry to tell you, but you did. You told me that I was being completely dumb and stupid. You weren't going to forget me. You'd known me for more than half a century and you remembered me after Striker shot you. Well, sort of. You tried to kill me until I proved that I knew you." Logan wasn't quite sure how she could possibly be smiling when she was talking to him about killing her. "But the phrase _you're being stupid_ definitely left your mouth when I started writing. When Charles told me that you'd forgotten everything after 1973, I was in such shock." Even as she recalled the feelings, goosebumps skittered down her skin. "I could barely remember my own name, never mind the fact that I'd written you a few pages about our lives together."

There was a certain elegance about her as she sank into the sand on the banks of the lake and looked out, her face caught somewhere between determined and distraught. Unsure what it was he should do, Logan took the steps up to her side and dropped down alongside her. "We met when I was trying to, uh…"

"You were trying to get some," Sirenia said, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her cheek against the patellas, looking at him with nothing short of humor in her eyes. "You always try to find a different way to talk about what you were doing, but we both know what you were doing. I accepted it a long time ago," she assured him. "The woman that you were with was trying to get you into the water and you kept telling her that you didn't want to get in. I thought you might be afraid of the water, so I hung around. I'd seen many men who were afraid of the water and who'd nearly drowned because of it."

"I am not afraid of the water," he growled.

Sirenia reached out and patted his knee, as if he was a wounded child. "Of course not," she said softly. "We conquered that fear in the 60s." She actually had the audacity to wink at him.

"I don't understand why you didn't just tell me that we'd met before Striker's lab, Sirenia," he whispered. There were only so many simple questions that could be asked when you forgot everything about yourself. "Why make it seem like something it wasn't?"

"Because I didn't want you to hate me," she admitted, resting her chin on her knee caps and staring at the water instead of him. "You read the things that I wrote, Logan. Your brother hated me. Do you realize that you two had been together for more than one hundred forty years when you decided to leave? That's seven times as long as you'd known me. Victor always hated me; he'd always felt like I was pulling you away from your true calling."

"What calling? Killing anyone who disagreed with me? That had never been my style," Logan countered. "Why would I hate you for that?"

"Because I'm also the reason that you had your bones fused with the metal," she admitted, wincing as if she'd just told him that she'd killed a president. "You told me once, after we got here and the Professor started helping you get your memories back, that you hadn't been thinking of Kayla at all when they fused you. You'd thought of me, of the fact that your brother had taken your best friend from you. Everything that happened was my fault. If I had swam away from you, led them somewhere else, they wouldn't have—"

"I have to tell you something," he interrupted. His heart was twisting in his chest, the pain nearly unbearable. Why it hurt so desperately to listen to this woman blame herself for things that weren't her fault, he couldn't explain. But it was beyond painful. "In my history or world or whatever the hell you call it, I still had my bones fused with adamantium and I don't remember you being there. I remember Kayla. She was always there. But you…I don't think I ever met you in that history."

An agitated hand ran through his hair, his frustration compounding to the point of explosion. It was the one problem that had plagued him from the moment that he'd put the letter down. "The whole point of going back to 1973 was to change everything that had happened _after_ that. So I don't understand how I could've changed things that happened _before_ that year. It doesn't make sense."

He snuck a glance at her, taking in the delicate lines of her face and the way that her features pinched. "The only thing that I can possibly figure is that you were there, too. What if I never got those memories back? In the world that I remember, Striker shot me and I didn't remember anything. Charles helped me get some of them back, but there's always been holes. There's always been things that I couldn't remember. What if you were one of those things?" Sirenia licked her lips, her teeth catching her bottom lip in a vice.

"You know what sucks?" she breathed. Logan watched her, but could see the water shifting out of the corner of his eye. "You went back to 1973 to make things better for everyone, to save all mutants from going through the pain of things I can't even imagine, but if what you're saying is true, you changed nothing for yourself. Your life, Victor, the adamantium, Striker, the lab…They all still happened to you. How is that fair? Why do the rest of us get to know nothing but good? Nothing but the life that you sacrificed your life to create while you only know pain?"

"And you don't know pain? I read that letter, Sirenia. They tortured you, tested on you. They nearly killed you. You used to have a tail, didn't you?" She turned her face away from him, but Logan couldn't let her run from him. Not about this. He knelt in font of her, gently gripping her chin and pulling her to look at him. "You're the reason that it happened in this world. You might have been the reason that everything happened in the other world, Sirenia, but I don't remember it.

"I do know that I don't want to go back there. I want to stay here. So what if shit happened in my life? So what if I wasn't able to save myself from some of the pain? My friends are still alive. My brother isn't as evil as he used to be. I have everything I didn't have there. I have friends, a life, some memories. I have a little wife who fights to protect everyone around her," he finished, sliding his fingers into her long, dark hair.

His instincts screamed, roared, begged. They told him that this was why was supposed to happen. They told him to do what he wanted, that she would welcome it. He brought his other hand up to to her hair as well, watching her eyes dart across his face. "This world is much better than the one I was living in," he breathed. He would smell her, the scent of her getting stronger as she breathed. Her chest was rising and falling before him.

"We shouldn't do this," she breathed, jerking out of his light hold and jumping to her feet. She kicked her shoes off, having never grown accustomed to wear shoes that stayed on her feet, and rushing into the water. She narrowed her eyes and willed the water to crawl up her limbs and the scales to grow in their place. The ones on her hands and face became prominent. She stared at him, her eyes darkening with her frustration. "We shouldn't do this, Logan. You don't remember me."

"Give me one reason why we shouldn't?" he asked, standing in front of her. "You tell me that you don't want me to kiss you, Sirenia, and I'll leave you alone." He'd seen it in her eyes for a moment before she'd jerked away from him. "Why is it so wrong of me to want to kiss you?"

"Because you're supposed to hate me!" she shouted at him. "The last time that I told you all of this, you weren't mad. You have to be mad at some point. It has to happen. I don't understand why you don't hate me."

He reached out and grabbed her about the waist, hauling her against his chest. He could feel the scales sliding beneath her clothing, Gently, he reached up and ran his fingers up her arms, feeling the slipperiness of her scales. He continued up her arms across her collarbone and to her cheek. "Logan," she hiccuped, trying to control her breathing. The closer he got, the harder it was to inhale. "Your questions," she reminded him, trying to get him to back away.

"They can wait for a moment," he breathed. Something was a million percent more important than the questions. He drew her up closer, his lips a scant inch from hers. His body _craved_ hers. Questions could wait. Explanations could wait. He wasn't sure that this could.

"What about Jean?" Sirenia asked, her sweet breath washing over his cheek. Logan backed up a fraction of an inch, staring at her. Jean hadn't even been a thought in his mind. "You love her. Don't you?" she pulled out of his arms, the water splashing between the two of them as she walked away. "That's why we shouldn't do this, Logan. The question's back. What about Jean?"


	12. Chapter XII

**Author's Note: Okay, so I'm super sorry that the chapter wasn't up last night. I was so freaking exhausted after my second job last night, I couldn't move. Sorry, sorry, sorry! That being said, if you all want another chapter later tonight, I would want to see ****_six_**** reviews. Okay? Okay! Enjoy!**

**Chapter XII**

"Are you feeling dumb yet?" Rogue asked her later that evening as Sirenia was getting ready to go to sleep for the night. "I listened to you, Si. _He_ didn't bring up Jean; _you_ did." Sirenia was stripping out of her clothes, wrapping the towel around her flesh to conceal herself.

"Do you think that I did the wrong thing?" Sirenia replied. "What about when Bobby started seeing Kitty? Don't you remember how hurt you were when that happened?"

"That's different."

"It's exactly the same, Rogue. Well, okay; not _exactly_ the same. What Bobby did was wrong because the two of you were already seeing each other when it happened. But what happened with Logan and Jean…Oh! Why am I even telling you this? Jean was your teacher and Logan was like a father to you. You don't need to know all the dirty details about what happened."

"First of all, I know _most_ of what happened because Jean was my teacher. Students talk to each other, too, you know," Rogue retorted. "Second of all, Logan may be like my father to me, but you're like a mother to me. I don't like to see you hurting, Sirenia. Why did you even bring Dr. Grey into the conversation? Logan didn't bring her up at all. He was ready to kiss you. Don't you want him to kiss you?"

"Of course I wanted him to kiss me, Marie. Don't be foolish," Sirenia snapped. "Here's the thing, Rogue. Logan doesn't remember me, but he remembers Jean. Everyone knows that he had a thing for Jean. And if he had a thing for her when I was alive, he probably had a thing for her in world where I didn't exist."

"Well…you don't know that. And, knowing you, you didn't ask him, did you?"  
>"I don't need to ask him. I know that man like the back of my hand. Some part of him has always been in love with Jean. And he doesn't know me, which means that he'll be looking for familiar. What's familiar to him is—"<p>

"This school," Rogue jumped in. "This place and these people are familiar to him. And even if some part of his lov_ed_ Jean, a larger part of him lov_es_ you. Bobby went out with Kitty when we were trying to figure out my powers. But, at the end of it all, he came back to me. Logan was interested in Dr. Grey. And at the end of it all, he came back to me and to you. We're his family, Sirenia; even if Logan won't admit it."

"I know, Marie. And I know that he's never told you, but he does love you. He thinks of you as his kid. We've taken in our fair share of kids over the years, taken so many under our wings, but you've always been the one that holds his heart, Marie. You were his daughter that we never had."

"Not never. I'm sure that two of you will have kids of your own one day," Rogue said. "I need to get back before Bobby comes looking for me. I didn't tell him that I was coming out to talk to you."

"Go to sleep. Come and get me if you I'm needed," Sirenia agreed, smiling at her before tossing the towel away and diving into the water. She sank like a stone to the bottom of the pool and curled against the tile, glad that she'd turned the heat on in the pool, so that water would warm up and keep her from being cold during the night.

The water was that place where she could feel comfortable, safe, and…and alone. She hadn't slept alone in years. Not since Logan had taken her out of Striker's lab. At first, it had been out of necessity. Both of them had had such wicked nightmares, it had become necessary for Sirenia to share her bed and wake him every time she felt his nightmares coming he'd finally recovered enough to sleep on his own, Sirenia's injuries had needed tending and he'd needed to be there for her.

The water was toasty warm, like a blanket that was wrapped around her perfectly. But it wasn't right. In fact, she was feeling a little cold, sitting at the bottom of the pool. She rolled onto her stomach and crossed her arms, resting her chin on her forearms. There was some dirt swirling around the bottom of the pool, the patterns forming as it drifted. She sighed heavily, rolling onto her back and looked up. A leaf fell into the pool, the ripples spreading on the surface of the water. It was going to be one hell of a long night.

The morning sun was a welcome sight, but only because it mean that Logan could finally leave his room and get the answers that he was searching for. Sirenia had denied him because she thought that he was in love with Jean. Which meant one major thing: he had hurt Sirenia in the past with Jean. Her letter said that she wouldn't tell him what had happened. She'd claimed that it was between him and Jean and she'd never asked. But she'd known. She had to have known, or it wouldn't have hurt so damn bad.

"Like a freaking jigsaw puzzle," he grumbled, fighting the urge to tear out his hair. His life had become a puzzle that he was having to put together one piece at a time, and someone was holding that damn box with the picture on it away from him. He needed to talk to Jean, needed to find out what had happened between the two of them. For the first time since he had come to the mansion, someone other than Jean Grey occupied his every thought. In fact, until Sirenia had said something, he'd forgotten Jean entirely. Most importantly, he wanted his little wife.

He rolled out of bed and tugged his tank top over his head, running the three doors down the hall to knock on the door. "Jean! Jean! I need to talk to you," he called, pounding on the door with mounting frustration.

"Are you kidding me, Logan?" Scott snarled, his hand coming up to ruffle his hair. "It's bad enough that you—"

"Where's Jean? I need to talk to her about Sirenia," Logan demanded, wanting to shove the door aside and push his way into the room. He was tired of being passed around for answers. He needed to know what had happened.

His body had craved Sirenia, but he had the distinct feeling that she'd been right to stop him. He didn't know what he felt for the his little siren wife. She fit him like some jacket that some stranger in a farm house had given him. She was some missing piece of himself that he'd never known that he was missing. But Jean… He'd loved Jean for ages, nearly from the moment that he'd woken up on that table in the infirmary. It just wasn't the same with Jean. She didn't get him the way that Sirenia seemed to. In the week since he'd woken up without his memories, Sirenia had always seemed to understand. She knew when to push and when to pull, when to confront and when to comfort.

Scott turned around to summon the telepath, some of his tension easing when he realized that Sirenia was to be the subject. "Logan? What's going on?" Jean asked, tightening the sash around her waist to close her robe. "Is everything okay?" She ran a hand through her blood red hair , patting down the unruly strands to make herself more presentable. "What's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you," he said simply, pointing a glance at Scott, "alone," he added sternly.

"I'm not letting you and Jean—"

"It'll be just a few moments, Scott," Jean said placatingly, smiling at him.

"I just want to talk to her about Sirenia; that's it," Logan said when Scott bumped his shoulder on the way out. Of course, all Scott did was scoff in response to that.

"Did you want to come in?"

"What happened between you and me?" he demanded, not wanting to deal with the small talk. "Here, in this world. I need to know what happened between us. Now."

"Nothing happened, Logan," Jean said softly.

"I know that something happened. I need you to tell me. Sirenia is convinced that I loved you," he growled. _And I did. I loved you so much, I killed you to save your life. _"She won't tell me and I need to know."

"Logan, you don't want to hear this," Jean said. "It doesn't matter. None of this matters. You chose Sirenia at the end of it all."

"I chose Sirenia?" That's not how this happened. Jean chose Scott. That was what had happened in his world. Wouldn't it have happened here?

"You chose her and left me alone. Forgotten."


	13. Chapter XIII

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm starting a new system here. Every Sunday night, I'll post a schedule on my profile for the updates for the week. That way you all know what's coming. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XIII<strong>

"_I_ picked Sirenia," Logan repeated, wanting to clarify what had just been said to him."Maybe you should start at the beginning, Jean. I need to know everything." He needed to make sense of everything that didn't make any damn sense. "Now."

"We should go for a walk, Logan. Let's go grab some coffee," she suggested. Logan thought about telling her no, about telling her that he needed to know what had happened and he needed to know now. Drinking coffee wasn't going to take the answers away. It would just make Jean more comfortable. "Come on." She slid her hand into the crook of his arm, but the touch felt wrong. In fact, it made his skin shiver. Not in the way that touching Sirenia had. This made his blood run cold and his stomach clench instead of flip. He took the stairs after her, watching the children mull around the hallways, some on their way to classes and some trying to grab breakfast.

Sirenia was standing with Scott, their heads bent together. That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. She lifted her head when he passed through the room, her gaze shooting passed him and to Jean's red head. Her lip lifted in a silent snarl as she saw the two of them coming into the kitchen, but when she locked eyes with Logan, he thought his heart might break. She looked at him with such pain, such sadness in his eyes, he wondered if this was a good idea after all. She looked at him like she thought that he'd made his choice. That he was trying to see if he wanted to be with Jean instead of her. _I just want the damn answers,_ he growled in his head.

"What happened, Jean?" he snarled when his bare feet hit the wet grass. "I need to know what happened between the two of us."

"When Storm and Scott brought you guys back, you were in such bad shape, we thought we'd lose you. Not as much as we thought we were going to lose Sirenia," she began. "You woke up first, when I was about to place an IV. You jumped out of bed—"

"And nearly choked you," Logan guessed.

"Nearly skewered me is more like it. You rolled off of the bed and saw Sirenia sitting there on that table. You knocked me out when I was trying to explain who I was and what had happened. Since then, I've found out about it. The Professor says that you grabbed Sirenia off the hospital bed and wrapped her in a blanket." Logan could see it in front of his eyes. Sirenia's prone form was lying down on the hospital bed, a line of stitches on her cheek, another through her eyebrow, a third going through her lips. He could feel his heart speeding up, his head pounding. He couldn't lose her. She was the only thing that he had, the only person that he'd known.

"The Professor called you, tricked you into coming upstairs and into his office." It was like watching a movie, where someone was narrating the entire time. He could see it all happening in front of his face, see Sirenia's bruised form in his arms and Charles' serene face when Logan had burst into the classroom that morning. It was all just like he remembered it and so very different. "It was strange with you from that very first moment. You were flirty, in a creepy kind of direct way. I liked you. A lot," she continued. "We had something."

"But I chose Sirenia?" he asked. _You didn't choose Scott?_ he asked her silently, hoping that she wasn't listening to his thoughts.

"I don't know how much you know about the year that you joined us," Jean continued. "Everything happened kind of fast. Magneto was—"

"Trying to turn every human into mutants. I remember that," Logan cut in. "We had thought that he wanted me, but he wanted Rogue."

"And Sirenia. See, Rogue can't just take someone's powers, she can transfer them. Erik wanted Rogue to transfer his powers to Sirenia and use her to power his machine," she explained.

"Why? Why not me?"

"Because of the adamantium. He thought that it would effect things. Besides, Sirenia doesn't heal like you do. He was worried that your cell regeneration would make his powers wear off. And Sirenia is immortal. We haven't figured out a way for her to die yet. She said that the only way she could die would be from drying out, but we've never really tested it."

"So he took Sirenia and Rogue so that he could use Sirenia over and over again, so that he could kill her," Logan muttered. "What does this have to do with you and me?"

"That's how we met. A year later, Striker resumed his mutant testing. You'd been gone for five months, and you'd left Sirenia here. I shouldn't say that you left her here. You left her entirely. You snuck out in the middle of the night. And when you came back—"

"I came looking for you, didn't I? That's why she's so worried about whatever happened between you and me. She thinks that I never wanted her," he guessed.

"I don't know." The redheaded telepath took a long drawl from her coffee. "I do know that Striker started his experiments again. He took Sirenia…and me."

"Striker took you?"

"He wanted you back because he wanted—"

"Weapon X. That's who I was, who he made me."

"He lured you back with me and Sirenia. When push came to shove… It was the hardest thing I've ever gone through. He tortured us for information. He wanted to know what you remembered and who you loved. He wanted you back," she pressed on, finishing off the coffee in her mug and wrapping her arms around her chest. "I felt so bad for talking, for telling him everything and anything that I knew about you. I felt like shit," she murmured, shaking her head. "Sirenia didn't say a word. She didn't even scream and he tried to kill her. I saw him."

She shook her head, her eyes sliding closed and her lip quivering. "He strung her up like a pig, like some fresh kill from a hunt. He almost killed her. God, he came so close. And you were there and…and he told you to make a choice and then…and then he cut her and you screamed and…And you picked her."

"Just like that?" That didn't make any sense.

"Sirenia was there, hanging by her wrists. One of her shoulders was—"

"Dislocated," Logan breathed. He could see her, completely naked, strung up in chains by her wrists. "With the heat lamp over her head, to dry her out." Jean nodded. Logan could hear her screaming as the knife sliced along her back, following the trail of her spine.

_"You can make the choice, Wolverine. You can save the girl you've known for half a century, or you can save the woman you love," Striker said, holding his knife in front of him as if it was some prize. Logan looked at Jean, at the eye that was swollen shut, at the blood that was dribbling down her lip. And he looked at Sirenia, covered in blood, amassed in bruises. She should've been dead. _

_ "Logan, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to tell him. He made me tell him. I'm sorry," Jean whispered, tear tracks leaving clean paths on her dirtied, bloodied cheeks. Sirenia screamed, drawing his attention to her and the knife that was protruding from the center of her stomach. Her air seemed to be caught in her lungs, unable to inhale, unable to scream again. _

_ "I wonder if we could bleed her dry," Striker mused._

_ "Just give me a minute, okay. Leave the girls alone," Logan heard himself shout. "I just need a damn second." _

_ "Get Jean out, Logan," he heard a horse voice breathe. _

_ "She seems to think that the only way for her to die is to be dried out. I'm wondering if we can't expedite the process by bleeding her dry while we leave her underneath the heat lamps. It could be an experiment," he smiled. _

_ "Leave," Sirenia begged. "Jean and go." Goosebumps crawled up her arms, her words coming out choppy and breathless. _

_ "If that's what you want, Logan. You can take Dr. Grey and leave. I can keep Miss Sirenia here," Striker said, stepping up and stroking her hair. Sirenia's head dropped against her bicep, nothing but the chains keeping her upright. "We can have plenty of fun, don't you think?" _

_ "Put her down, Striker. Jean I'm so sorry. I—I can't. Striker, put Sirenia down or I'll kill you here and now," Logan heard himself warn._

_ "You want to leave me with Dr. Grey?" _

_ "Logan!" Jean shouted. Logan felt himself smile, heard the nearing of Hank and Scott. He could get them all out, could save Sirenia and get Jean to safety. He could save Sirenia. _

_ "I can't, Jean. Let her go, Striker." _**_Because you're wrong. It's not a question of choosing my best friend or choosing the woman I love. They're the same person,_**_ he realized_


	14. Chapter XIV

**Author's Note: I know that it's late! I'm sorry. I had the table from hell tonight. Oh, and I know that the chapters have been kind of short, but I've had some pretty late nights. Thursday's chapters should be longer. Enjoy!**

**Chapter XIV**

"I always said that we should start hanging out behind their backs. It would drive them crazy," Scott growled as they watched Logan and Jean walking out of the building.

"There's a distinct difference between what would happen if _we_ hang out and what happens when _they_ hang out," Sirenia replied. She'd told Logan that she didn't know what had happened, but she did. She'd known about everything, was able to pry it from the students and faculty that saw the two together. There was always some part of her brain that wondered how things would've turned out for her if Logan had chosen Jean.

It had been some fifteen years since that day, but it was something that Sirenia struggled with on a daily basis. Would Logan still have chosen her if he hadn't heard the rest of the team coming down the halls? Was she his decision because he knew that Scott was moments away from being able to save Jean? They were the questions that plagued her, that made it so difficult for her to be around him.

For weeks after the rescue, Sirenia had avoided the man that she now called her husband. She hadn't wanted to be around him, hadn't wanted him to talk to her, hadn't wanting him to see her. She was afraid of all of it. It wasn't until Logan had tossed her into the lake and kissed her senseless that she'd realized he'd meant it. Some part of his was in love with, as in love as she had been with him. She'd spent the next four years learning how to trust him again, learning that it was okay to love him. Eventually, though, they'd gotten married and had gotten to live their happily ever after.

But only for five years.

"It doesn't matter, Scott. I'm—" The alarm went off at that moment, blaring through the house and over the grounds. "You want to teach class or you want to go on a mission?" she asked, smiling at him, hoping that he would say class. Heaven knew that she could use a little violence to let out her frustrations. Five glorious years with her husband and all she had to show for it was a man who was chasing down his ex-girlfriend and lacked memories of his wife. _I need the senior team here_, the Professor said in her head. _And Logan, you would be on the Senior Team._

"Guess I won't be teaching today," Scott said, leaning down and kissing Sirenia's cheek. "I'm sure that everything will be just fine. Maybe, this time, Logan will pick you outright instead of waiting for Jean to pick me." Sirenia smiled and nodded, though she'd never had the heart to tell him what she knew. She slapped him on the back and took the stairs be hid him. "You're not planning on asking me any questions, are you?"

"No, you big baby. I have to save it for whichever little creep we bring home today," Sirenia replied, pulling her hand from his back.

"You sound fairly certain that it's a man terrorizing the town," Hank said as he met the pair in the hallway.

"When was the last time that the monster terrorizing the town was a woman?" Storm asked, smacking the blue monster on the back of the head as she walked up.

"I'm glad that we're labeling our mutant brethren as monsters," Jean told them as she and Logan finally joined the rest of the team.

"We still wearing spandex?" Logan asked, his eyes narrowing as he watched Scott and Hank move to flank Sirenia. Scott was staring at Jean, but Hank was glaring at Logan. There was obvious warning in the way that he bared his teeth. The two had some kind of friendship, that much was obvious. And while Logan didn't like the idea that anyone felt Sirenia needed protecting from him, he was glad to see that Sirenia had people around her that were so willing to stand up for her. Even if they were fighting the wrong battles.

"It's more of a leather fabric now. Hank created it," Sirenia informed him. "Come on. Time's a-wasting." Everyone began filing into the office, Sirenia at the tail end so the other couples could push their way in.

She made a move to step inside when Logan's steely grip closed around her forearm and hauled her back. "After this mission or whatever you guys call it…can we talk? Please?" he asked her, his voice so soft, only Hank would have a chance of hearing them.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Logan. We both know what happens when we start talking," she replied. Although, she wasn't entirely certain he knew what talking to her did.

"I have things to explain. Please, Si," he breathed. He couldn't know how the use of her nickname softened her heart instantly. He'd been the first person to call her that.

Checking over her shoulder, Sirenia stepped up close and placed her hand over his chest. "Tell me the truth," she breathed. "You want to talk to me about something that's going to upset me?"

"I hope not," he replied instantly, compelled to reply. "What was that?"

"I told you that swimming wasn't the only thing that I could do," she told him with a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "We'll talk later, Logan; I promise. Right now, though, we got to go before Charles scrambles our brains."

The sincerity in his voice and the way that his eyes darkened when he'd told her he _hoped_ he didn't upset her. "This is James Thornton," Charles said, pictures appearing on the large, translucent screens in front of the window. "He's the newest recruit of the Brotherhood of Mutants. The new leader, Scorpion, has recruited him for one reason. Thornton is one of those dual mutations. Not only is like Kitty, but he also the ability to open any lock or safe. His street name is Jailbreak."

"Who's he after?"

"Atwater; the mutant wing," the Professor replied.

"There's mutant divisions of prisons?" Logan asked.

"And hospitals," Sirenia whispered. "I'll explain when we're on the plane. Let's get going. California, here we come."

"Sirenia, Erik wants to know what the Brotherhood is planning," Charles warned as she stepped out of the office, a lively spring in her step.

"He has to be alive, Sirenia," Hank said, ruffling her hair as he pushed her out the door. "You're not allowed to kill this one."

"I didn't kill the last one," Sirenia said, placing her hand on the one atop her head. "What truth would you like to tell, Hank?"

"Oh, bugger off," Hank growled, jerking his hand from her hair. "Your wife is a brat, Logan."

"And don't you forget it," Sirenia smiled. Logan watched her hips sway as she sprinted down the stairs and to the elevator, her hair tossed over her shoulder. She was silent, chomping on gum as she waited for the elevator to get the bottom floor.

The uniforms were still of the regular style that he remembered before. The fabric was thick and tough like leather, but the the conformity of spandex. Which meant that when Sirenia stepped out in an outfit of the same black material that clung to ever inch of her, Logan's heart nearly stopped beating. "What was that joke Hank made about you killing the last one?" he asked, needing to distract himself from the torture of looking at her. His dreams had shown him visions of her without her clothes on, hung up for slaughter and death. When she'd come out of the water covered in scales, her form had left little to the imagination. Her uniform, however, was a different kind of pain entirely.

"I did not _kill_ anyone. All I did was asphyxiate him for a few moments. When Hank said he was going to be too long without oxygen to his brain, I stopped. And then he told us the truth," she explained. "See? It all worked out well in the end."

"I didn't think you were that bloodthirsty," Logan said with a smile.

"He hit Rogue. It was either me or you…And Charles thought I was the more sensible of his two options. I'm not entirely sure what he was thinking either," she said with a shrug. "If there's one thing that we all know, it's that you don't hurt my Marie."

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm starting to feel for Bobby," Logan chuckled. "So, mutant wings?"

"Come on. Let's get on the plane before Storm leaves us behind again," she replied. She nodded at the shocked expression on her husband's face. "Mutant wings are run by mutants, before you get worried about anything like that. A lot of the regular prisons that we had couldn't handle the mutants. Mutants like Magneto and Kitty, who could just walk through walls or bed the bars. They had to find something else. And the same went for hospitals. It wasn't about keeping them in, but making sure that we could contain them when they lashed out. It's a safety thing," she explained.

"So, uh…talking about things in a confined space sounds like a safe plan," Logan replied.

"You have always been impatient. If you start talking about it, I'll jump."


	15. Chapter XV

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry, guys. I don't know how many of you have Mac computers, but OS X did a complete overhaul on their software (again) last night. My computer likes to take a year and a half to update, which prevented me from updating. And today was one of those lovely days that includes school and all three jobs. Fun, right? Anyways, so I'm putting the chapter up tonight and then I'll try to put up another tomorrow morning before I go to my lunch shift at work. Sorry again, guys! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XV<strong>

They touched down in Atwater before Logan was really ready. Though Sirenia had threatened to jump, he'd truly been hoping that he would have a chance to corner her and talk about the situation with Jean. He didn't know the woman that he was married to. He wasn't exactly ready to profess undying love for the woman, either. But he did know that some part of him loved her. He couldn't remember feeling the emotion for himself, but he knew that a part of him had.

"Sirenia, you're supposed to wear gloves," Beast said as he watched her tossed the gloves on her seat and yank the sleeves from her wrist to her forearm. "Charles doesn't want your hands exposed after the last time that you got burned."

"I'm sorry, but since you're the one in charge of debriefing us about missions, I blame you. I don't remember you saying anything about the mutant being a pyro. Now, when you don't tell me those things, I do stupid things like touch the people who can burn me." Logan couldn't help but smile at her attitude as she neared the hanger door, her hips swaying as she walked.

"Does she always have this big of an attitude?" Logan asked Storm as his wife's best friend walked by.

"Ha! If Sirenia isn't acting like this, something is wrong," Storm informed him. "Something big. Like her husband waking up with amnesia and making her miserable."

"I get it, okay? I suck as a husband. I'm working on it, Storm. I promise," Logan assured her.

"Well, you should work on it a little more." Storm gripped his shoulder and pushed him towards the wall, making sure that they were alone. "Look, I stood idly by the last time that you and Jean tried to have a thing. I ignored the way that things were going. I didn't know you at all and I barely knew Sirenia at the time. But now I know her. Now, she's my best friend and I won't stand by and watch you hurt her again."

"That's not my plan," he promised her.

"I'm warning you, Logan. It won't feel too good on that metal skeleton of your if I send a bolt of lightning through you," she growled.

"Storm, I got it. I promise. I'll talk to her after the…mission thing," Logan promised, patting the white haired teacher's shoulder. "Let's go before they get suspicious."

"Trust me," Storm said with a laugh, "the last thing that anyone will be is suspicious." Her cape swooshed behind her as she marched in front of him for fifteen strides before she turned around and looked at him. "You know, this isn't the first time that you've screwed up. And you used to write letters to her to tell her that you were sorry or how you felt."

"Why do you know these things?" he asked her. "I mean, isn't that kind of private?"

"Your wife is my best friend, Logan. I know pretty much everything." Her gaze traveled down his body and back up, pausing on her way up with a knowing look. "Everything."

"Where are we going to start?" Jean asked.

Bricks came spraying at the back as a group of men sprinted towards them. "Sirenia," Hank called. Logan watched as his wife lifted her hand and every man running stopped dead. She put her over hand up, her arms running perpendicular to one another, and made a come hither motion with her fingers. The bodies marched in uniform towards them. "Where is Jailbreak?" Hank demanded.

"I'm over here," the accented voice called, standing atop all the rubble that was left behind from the explosion. "What is it I can do for you, ladies and gentlemen?" Storm was moving around behind the men that Sirenia was hold, prying their arms behind their back and securing their wrists with some weird handcuff that Logan didn't recognize. "You're taking my best men, mates. I can't quite have that happening."

Scott lifted a hand to his temple, the red laser beaming from the visor to the place a few inches from where the man stood. "That's a warning," Scott snapped. "If you just come quietly, no one will get hurt."

"Guys," Sirenia said, sweat beading on her brow. She was losing control of one of the men. She could feel someone's blood boiling, but she knew that she wasn't doing it. No one was listening to her, though. They were all trying to take down Jailbreak, trying to complete their mission. "Hey!" Sirenia tried again. "Hey, I'm losing one of them."

As soon as the words left Sirenia's mouth, one of the men yanked free of Sirenia's hold. His arms flailed in the air, knocking Storm to the ground. Sirenia saw him blink the moment before she was hit in the center of her stomach by a beam of light that was…strikingly similar to Scott's. Sirenia heard herself grunt and felt the air whoosh by her ears before she connected with the hard concrete.

"Sirenia!" Logan shouted, seeing the wife's form fly through the air.

"Logan, stop. Go and get Jailbreak. Sirenia will be fine," Hank snapped when he saw Logan rushing towards the place where Sirenia had landed. The Wolverine gave once glance towards his wife's still form before turning and running after the mutant in question.

"You can't catch me. I'll just get out of whatever prison that you put me in," he shouted when Logan stopped in front of him and let the claws extend from his fingers.

"You can get out of a prison; you're not invincible, pal," Logan said, lifting the metal claws before his face. Hank came to stand at his right, his teeth bared and a growl rumbling in his throat. "Come on," Logan taunted.

The kid wasn't trained at all. It didn't take very long for Logan and Hank to have the kid backed up against the wall and wrestled into a pair of handcuffs. And in about half the time that it took them to get him cuffed, the kid had them unlocked and was trying to run again. "Hank, looks like you forgot the part about the kid being able to bust any lock," Logan grumbled as he locked his fingers around the guy's wrist and chicken winged the brat's arm.

"I was a little bit preoccupied," Hank retorted.

"Yeah, well; I'll just sit on him for the ride home," Logan muttered.

"Or I can sit on him and you can go look after your wife," the blue man retorted, pointing over Logan's shoulder.

Sirenia was struggling to her feet, her face twisted in pain. "Damn shapeshifters. Every single freaking time," he heard her grumble. Her hand was pressed against her stomach, her frustration clear for a moment or two before she caught sight of the shifter who'd shot her. "You! You little dual-mutated weasel!" she snarled at the man. Her hand lifted and the guy was forced towards her. "Try getting out of this one. It's a lot easier to force someone to stay in place when I only have to focus on one person. Let's see how you feel about having the blood in your stomach boiled. Maybe then you'll understand what it feels like."

Her hand clenched, her fingernails biting into her palm. "Sirenia, didn't we agree that we weren't killing this one?" Scott said laughingly, trying to push Sirenia's arm back to her side. The wave she gave with her free hand might as well have been a punch in the face, the way it send Scott reeling. The guy in front of her was starting to flush and turn red, panting to catch his breath.

"Okay, Sirenia, I think that was quite enough," Logan said, reaching around and grasping her about the ribcage, careful to avoid the wound on her stomach.

"Why is it that every single time that we go out, I'm the one who ends up bleeding?" she mumbled as Logan started dragging her back towards the jet. "Normally, you help the guys get the prisoners secured while we wait for the police. We have to drag Jailbreak back to the mansion for Charles to deal with. You're the one who keeps everybody in line."

"You know," Logan chuckled, looking at the men who were staring at Logan and his wife with nothing short of shock and fear, "something tells me that those men would rather just comply than have Hank let you loose again."

"Oh, aren't you funny? Ow! Watch where you're putting your hands, bub," she growled, lifting his hand from her midriff to her ribcage again.

"Let me take a look," he said, putting her down on the bed so he could take a look at the wound. "Dual-mutated weasel, huh?"

"I should've thought about that before we were got to Atwater. It's a prison specifically designed for mutants with two mutations," Sirenia grumbled, trying to stifle the warmth coursing through her when Logan's fingers began tracing the wound. "It would be where they would stick me…and you…probably Rogue but only because she's labeled extremely dangerous. Most mutants are just fine to hold still, but freaking shape shifters are always hard."

"Why?" he asked, examining the burned edges of her skin and the raw, bloodied wound in the center.

"Shapeshifters' cells have to change in order for them to change. When I'm holding one or two people, a shifter is no problem, but—What the hell did you just touch?" she snarled at him when he brushed the disinfectant over her stomach. "God, I hate when you play doctor. Just in case you can't remember this far back, you were a soldier. You have never once been a military doctor. Ow!" Logan couldn't help laugh at her when she growled at him. "Maybe I should be boiling your blood. The other guy didn't cause me this much pain."

"You never told me that you were such a big baby when you're in pain," Logan said. "And you're not the only one who ends up bleeding. I just heal before you notice."

"You're getting less and less funny by the moment," Sirenia warned him. "And considering that I am significantly older than you are, I have died a few more times than you have. I have earned the right to be a baby."

"Right; adamantium fused skull doesn't give me a right to be at all a baby," Logan growled.

"Have you ever lived with you when you have a cold? It's like dealing with a newborn," she retorted.

"I'm going to give you something to take care of the pain."

"And it will make me loopy," she finished for him. "Which means that now would be the time for you to talk to me about Jean. That way, I don't have to remember it."


	16. Chapter XVI

**Author's Note: I swear, all I ever do is apologize. I got stuck with a double shift on homecoming night in a university town. In other words, my night sucked. Also, I hate to do this to you guys, but I need to know what you're all thinking so...I need to see ****three (3)**** reviews on tonight's chapter. Pretty, pretty, pretty please!? Okay. Oh! And the new schedule has been posted on my profile. Three reviews could earn a double update on Tuesday's chapter to make up for my crappy weekend...Just saying!**

**Chapter XVI**

Logan was careful as he maneuvered Sirenia into his arms. He hooked her arm around his neck and tried to hold her flat. He didn't want her wound to be bunched and cause her more pain. Hank had pointed out that there were stretchers, but Logan chose to ignore it. Sirenia had fallen asleep on ride back to the mansion, her pain finally becoming too much or her. Logan didn't want to let her out of his arms. He couldn't tell anyone _why_ he was so adamant about it, not fully sure himself, but he knew that he wasn't letting her go.

He had elected not to talk to her about Jean. Not only had the pain medication put her a little out of it, he had found, in the few days that he'd known his little wife, that verbal sparing with her was fun. She had a quick wit and never hesitated to say what was on her mind. Well…she did hesitate but not for long. Even when the words were difficult to express and painful, Sirenia seemed willing to say them. He wanted her to argue with him about Jean. The brief flashes of memories told him that he knew how to win these arguments.

And he was looking forward to the victory.

As he came out of the elevator with Sirenia in his arms, Logan realized that he didn't quite no where to put his wife. She'd moved herself out of their room and was sleeping…he didn't quite no where. He held her a little closer, pressing his forehead to her hair for a brief second. She smelled sweet and familiar, her body bundled tight to his chest. He would put her in their bed while they waited for her to come back around. Hopefully it would be some kind of comfort for her.

Logan leaned down and gently placed her on the bed. Her body recoiled from the cold sheets, her fingers clenching tight into the fabric of his uniform. "Sh, Sirenia. You're safe. I'm jut putting you in bed," he explained in hushed tones, his hands sliding from her body and gently pulling her fingers from the leather. She calmed as her body heat warmed the linens. She clutched the blankets to her chest, muttering his name and succumbing to sleep once again.

Logan watched her for a few moments, wondering what he was supposed to do next. Her breasts rose and fell evenly, her breathing even. She looked happy…serene. Until she moved and winced in pain. The question she'd posed, however sarcastically, stung his brain. Every time they went out, she ended up bleeding. That didn't bode well for him. He wanted her to feel safe, but if, by her own confession, she ended up bleeding, she probably didn't. He didn't like it. "Are you coming back out here?" Scott called, leaning against the doorjamb. "Watching her sleep…nice and creepy."

"What do you want, Scott?" he demanded in an impatient voice. "Look, I'm not after your girl. I don't want Jean."

Scott scoffed, the air rushing from his nostrils quickly. "I know that you don't want Jean. You and I should probably talk about everything, but I don't think that this is the day for that. Hank wants you to come and interrogate Jailbreak. Something about your interrogation skills being necessary," he explained.

"I won't torture him. I don't know what I did here, but I know what I did there and I won't do it again," Logan growled, wondering if that was what his wife thought that he was.

"You don't torture them," Scott chuckled. "You're the one who tries to brusque fatherly approach and, occasionally, gets them to talk to us."

"Occasionally?" Logan asked, his brows winged upward.

"Yeah, well; usually, we use Sirenia. She can make any man tell her the truth with just a touch. We thought, for a little while, that she was related to Silverfox," Scott explained. "She could—"

"I know what she could do," Logan interrupted. He remembered Kayla. He knew what she could do and he didn't need to be reminded of it anymore. "Is she—Is she still alive?"

"She works for the government now. The CIA to be more precise. She is the best undercover operative for—"

"Obvious reasons," Logan completed. "Let me get Sirenia settled and I'll meet you downstairs."

Scott scoffed once more. "And you call me overprotective. I'll see you in five."

As soon as he left the room, Logan settled himself on the edge of the bed. Sirenia muttered his name and pressed herself the smallest bit closer to him. He liked that…a lot. Cautiously, he pulled the folded quilt from the bottom of the bed over her prone form, tucking the warm blanket around her shoulders. She was covered up to the neck, the collar of her uniform peeking out from beneath the fabric. That couldn't be comfortable for her. Maybe her should…

Or not. He'd leave her alone until he could rouse her enough to help him. He took the stairs slowly, thinking of the proper way to explain to his wife what his memory had revealed to him. _I know that you have no reason to believe me. I don't have a lot of memories of what happened between me and Jean here, in this world. But I know what we did in my world, in my history. You weren't there, Sirenia. I don't know how things would have turned out if we'd been together in what I remember. And, in my world, I don't have many memories. I have next to none, actually. I only clearly remember what happened after I got to this mansion. For all I know, we could've been together there, too. Maybe you were best friend and I just…I didn't have you, _he formulated, hoping that he was making this argument work.

War required strategy. Logan knew that this, love and relationships, was no different from war. He needed to know what he was going to say to her and think about her argument. He needed to explain everything he could predict before he confronted her. _I know myself and I know that I wouldn't have made a choice if it wasn't something that I completely believed in. Especially something as big as marriage. I remember the moment that I chose you, Sirenia. There wasn't a question in my mind. I know what it feels like to lose Jean. I've done that. Hell, I've killed her. But that was nothing compared to what it felt like to lose you. I remember standing their, staring at you and Jean and Striker. And I remember realizing that I would hurt if I lost Jean, but I would die if I didn't have you with me. You have to understand, Sirenia…When you lose your memories as often as I do, you have to trust yourself and trust your decisions. I don't want Jean. I want you._

The interrogation room was nothing more than a regular lounge, with an armchair, a couch, and a coffee table. Hank was growling at the man who was standing there, unlocking each of the basement windows and watching them flop open. "Hey, knock it off, kid," Logan said, grabbing the brat's shoulder and pushing him back down onto the couch. "Let's hurry up and get this over with. I want to go back to my wife. Who, by the way, I hold you responsible for hurting. So, you can tell me what I want to know, or I can make your life a living hell."

"What? Beat me up? Please; you can't do anything that hasn't already been done to me a million times. How do you think I ended up in the Brotherhood?"

"Did they hurt you? Threaten you into joining?" Logan asked, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked over at the kid.

"Are you kidding? They're the only ones who promised me safety. They told if I joined them, the government wouldn't be able to get a hold of me ever again. I won't go back to that place." The kid's jaw was set, his determination evident.

"What kind of place?" Logan asked.

"What do you mean what kind of place? The government locked us up and experimented on us. I don't want to go back there and the Brotherhood said that, as long as I was with them, we'd make sure any human who experimented on mutants was killed. They killed my family. I have a right to go back, get my little brother, and kill them in return. Your little 'A-team' here won't stop me. I got out so that I could make friends with these people in the Brotherhood and go back for my younger brother. I won't leave Roger to those people."

"The government doesn't experiment on mutants," Hank said sternly.

"And Auschwitz was just new real estate for Jewish people," Erik said as he walked into the room.

"Erik—" Logan warned.

"The government does not experiment on mutants," Hank repeated.

"And if they do, we need to know," Erik said. The two began bickering, coming closer and closer while Logan and Thornton just watched.

"Logan, I believe that your wife requires your assistance. I would like to talk to young Mr. Thornton. Erik, you can argue with Hank in another room," Charles said as he wheeled himself into room. "And best of luck with your wife, Logan. I hope you don't need it."

Logan growled low in his throat as he passed by the Professor, laying a hand on the man's shoulder. "Stay out of my head, Charles. I think we can both agree that it's not the best place for anyone to be."

The idea that the American government was still experimenting on mutants was terrifying. He could still feel the needles pressing into his skin, the hot metal boring into his bones. And then he had a flash of Sirenia, strung up by those chains with the heat lamps over her head. He couldn't allow her to go through that again. No one should ever know the tortures that the two of them knew. Charles would want to dig through Jailbreak's head and find out where this lab was. And then, with no small amount of surety, Logan knew that they would be off to rescue the mutants.

Sirenia's mutters and groans came through the thick door, speeding Logan's move up the stairs and through the threshold. She was thrashing on the bed, her breath coming in crazed gasps. From where Logan stood, he could see the way that his wife was shaking…hard. "Cold. Cold. Logan, it's cold. Please, I just want the heat. Please."

Logan rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around his wife whose trembling wouldn't stop. "It's cold. Logan, it's cold," she repeated over and over again. He wrapped every blanket lying around the bed and tucked it around his wife before lying down on the bed beside her and pulling her into his arms again, but she wouldn't stop shivering. He was at a loss for what to do next, except to hold her and pray that she wasn't going to fall sick or something. The wound on her stomach was serious. She could be getting a fever or…or…

The water. If he could jut get her into the water, she would be fine. She'd told him multiple times that she could do almost anything in the water. Maybe she could heal herself in the water, too. He quickly changed into a pair of sweats he was fairly certain he didn't care about and returned for his wife. He lifted her into his arms again and carried her off to the bathroom. He started the water, making sure that it was hot, and settled himself on the closed toilet, Sirenia draped across his lap. "You're going to hate me," he breathed as he unzipped the uniform, looking only at her face and collarbones while he peeled the uniform from her skin.

Not looking at any part of her other than her face, Logan slipped his arms around her again and slid the both of them into the bathtub. Sirenia gave a startled gasp and, for a moment, her trembles even increased. Then, all at once, her shaking stopped, her scales came forth, her breathing leveled out, and she relaxed into his arms. He bent his knees to give her room to snuggle between his thighs and rest herself. The scales wrapped themselves around her body and, for the first time, her legs formed together into a tail.

Or they would have, if the tail hadn't ended in a stub. The bones weren't exposed, but it was clear that she'd gone through immeasurable pain to have the fin removed from the bottom. He wondered how much will power she had to put in, in order to keep her legs separated when the scales started to grow. And whether or not she was doing so, so that he would never see her like that again.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her and laid his cheek against her hair. "Doesn't seem to matter what I do. I hurt you at every turn, don't I?" he asked her. "I promise you, Sirenia, I won't hurt you again. I swear."


	17. Chapter XVII

**Author's Note: I know that I've been bad. You guys don't even want to know what's been going on lately. Anyways, the scheduling will resume on Sunday. For the next couple of days, just bare with me. You'll have a flood of updates. Also, be aware that more than five reviews on any given chapter can usually convince me to post a double chapter sometime in the week. Just saying; enjoy!**

**Chapter XVII**

Sirenia woke up feeling more comfortable than she had in weeks. Her head was resting against the firmest pillow she'd ever felt and the water lapping at her legs and waist warmed her to her core. The second that she tried to move, she realized where she was and who she was with. Logan's arms constricted around her when she twisted more onto her side. One hand soothed up and down her arm while soft, warm breath filtered through her hair. "You're okay," she heard brushed into her ear.

Tilting her head up, she looked at her husband. Bare chested, his arms wrapped around her, his cheek pressing against his temple…it was almost like it had been before. He was holding her close, the arms locked around her as solid as a promise. "Logan," Sirenia breathed, lifting one dripping hand to his shoulder and gently shaking him."Come on; let's get out of bed," she urged, though she knew it wasn't the right word. They weren't in bed. She could feel the water and the closeness of the walls around them. They were in a bathtub; she was sure of it.

Logan swatted at the hand that continued to press itself against his shoulder, that refused to stop shaking him. Sirenia smiled to herself, looking at the frustration that was bunching his jaw and bringing his brows together. She stretched her neck and pressed her lips against his cheek and neck, remembering all the mornings where they'd woken up in the tub. She wasn't even sure she could enumerate those times. "Sirenia, knock it off," he grumbled out of habit before he realized what it was that he was saying. His eyes opened instantly, wide and alert, but he didn't look at her face.

Logan gently maneuvered the petite woman around until he could lay his palm over her stomach. The skin was a little raw and rough, like a burn that was still in the early stages of healing. It wasn't bleeding any longer, though. And the outer edges had already healed over to fresh, undamaged, creamy white skin. "I don't heal as fast as you, but I do heal quickly," Sirenia whispered, feeling the emotions tear through her stomach. Logan's hands were running gently over her skin, reminding her of everything that she had lost.

His gaze moved up to her face, meeting eyes that were blue. He could see the guardedness in her eyes, the hope that she was trying to smother. "Charles gave us a few days off," he said, unsure how to explain himself or how to continue this conversation. "Between your injury and the things that we need to talk about, he thought it might be helpful."

The change in Sirenia was instantaneous. The curtains dropped over her eyes, her posture stiffened, her jaw set determinedly. "We have nothing to talk about, Logan. I know what the conversation will be about and I don't want to talk about it." She pushed herself out of the water, the droplets running in robust down her skin and dripping into the pool of water below her. "Thank you for staying with me last night. I'm fine now and the rest of the wound will heal up tonight. I have a class to teach."

Logan's sweats were drenched in water, slicking to his thighs as he jumped upright and followed her into the bedroom. His steps sloshed with each motion, the water spitting from his feet as he walked. "Sirenia, why won't you just listen to me?" he demanded, his voice dark and gravelly.

"I already told you. We have nothing to talk about," she insisted. Her skin was starting to dry, her scales starting to disappear. Having taken all of her clothing with her when she'd moved out of the room, Sirenia realized that she faced the very real possibility of being naked in front of Logan, which was the last thing that she wanted. Logan watched as Sirenia moved with familiarity, opening drawers and pulling out one of his wife-beater shirts. Her stature, diminutive in comparison with his, allowed the shirt to fall to the tops of her thighs.

With greedy interest, Logan devoured the sight of his wife's bare skin. "Sirenia, stop!" he growled as she headed for the door. He rushed forward and grabbed her forearm, spinning her around again. "I am done with this. You are my wife and, as you've told me before, we are both old school. I know that you believe that you're supposed to honor and obey me."

"Only when you're right," Sirenia retorted. "And I know that you believe in handling women with care. So let go of me," she growled, tugging on her arm. Logan knew he wasn't hurting her and knew he couldn't let go. Not yet.

"I'm getting frustrated, Sirenia. You are willing to do all the talking, to give me every damn answer that I keep asking you and that's great. It's fantastic. But you aren't listening to me. You keep ignoring everything that I say and I'm getting sick of it. So, now it's time for you to listen. You are going to go downstairs. You are going to pack a bag. You are going to meet me by my truck and you are not going to ask me any questions." Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows winged upwards, obviously questioning him.

"There was a time when you trusted me, Sirenia. I'm only asking for that trust again. I'm asking you to believe that I won't hurt you. I'm asking you to believe that I may not remember everything, but I have flashbacks. I know what I felt for you. I just don't know _you_. I need a chance to get to know you, for the two of us to be away from all of this. I don't remember how we met and I don't remember most of our friendship, but I do know that this mansion is no place for us to get to know one another. We're leaving, Sirenia. You can come willingly, or I can throw you over my shoulder and march out of here."

Sirenia knew that he was serious. She also knew that he had no idea how that simple monologue had affected her. He had used almost the same words when he'd taken he away the last time, after rescuing her. _People say history repeats, but this feels more like deja vu,_ she muttered to herself as she finally gave him a simple nod and left the room.

Classes were already in session, which meant that there was no time to tell the rest of the crew where they were going. It suited Logan's purpose just fine. He didn't want anyone to know where they were going. He had the impression that the two of them were constantly interrupted by people, constantly pulled in different direction. Charles was still wanting to know what had happened with the American government experimenting on mutants, which meant Sirenia's talents wouldn't be needed for Thornton. He needed to get his wife out of the mansion, away from the school, and alone.

When he made it down the stairs to his truck, Sirenia was leaning against the vehicle's body with a duffle hanging from her shoulder. "Are you going to tell me where we are going?" she asked him, glaring at him in warning. He needed to tell her where he was taking her and he needed to tell her now. There was one thing that Sirenia hated in the world and that was surprises. Unfortunately for her, Logan was, by nature, someone who thought that surprises were fantastic. Her husband stepped up to her with that secretive, knowing, _I refuse to tell you anything_ smile on his face.

He took her bag from her and threw it into the bed before taking her hand in his and pulling her around to the passenger side of the car. "You'll figure it out," he promised her as he helped her into the car and closed the door after her.

"Come on, Logan," Sirenia began the moment that his door was closed. "Just tell me where we're going. I know you don't remember, but I hate surprises. And I really won't be happy not knowing where we're going, so why don't you just tell me," she pleaded.

Logan reached across his body and grasped her chin in his hand. Leaning over, he pressed his lips against hers. For a moment, he thought that he'd been wrong to assume that the could kiss her into submission. Then her arms wound around his neck and she tentatively returned his kiss. He looped an arm about her waist and dragged her against his chest. She was soft and willing in his arms, her skin like satin beneath his calluses. He pulled away from her after what wasn't nearly long enough. Sirenia opened her mouth again, probably about to beg him for their destination or protest something about Jean and he was sick unto death of hearing about it. He kissed her hard and quick. "Shut up, Sirenia. Just, for once, shut up."


	18. Chapter XVIII

**Author's Note: As promised, today will be the marathon of updates. There will be at least one more today, but probably two (depending on reviews) Enjoy!**

**Chapter XVIII**

Sirenia had fallen asleep within fifteen minutes of their being on the road, her temple pressed against the window pane. Logan felt strange, watching her sleep. It was different than when he'd been comforting her, trying to give her some warmth, trying to make sure that she healed. This was a different kind of intimacy. He was worried about how she would react when he got her to the location. He took heart in the fact that she hadn't protested too much when he'd commanded her to be ready. He knew enough about her to know that she would fight him if it was something she was against.

His eyes had been fixed on the road for some two hours when Sirenia groaned. He looked over at her, worried that she was hurt or that she was in the throes of a nightmare. Instead, Sirenia stretched a little bit and turned. Her joints cracked as she moved. She leaned towards him and grumbled something before resting herself against his thigh. She pressed her cheek against his leg, her hand coming up to rest beside her face. She tucked her legs up on the bench seat beside her, curling herself into the small space.

Like some string had connected the two of them, Logan felt his arm start to slide downward. The limb rested itself along her shoulder, falling over to rest on her waist. There was something that was connecting him to her, something that he couldn't even try to explain and it was right. Sirenia was right. Decisions that had been made in the past be damned. He wanted this life. He wanted this future. And he wanted this woman as his wife. Things that had felt right with Jean in the memories that he had, felt even better when he was with her.

The rest of the drive was comfortable, albeit silent. Sirenia's breath whispered from her nostrils, her chest rising and falling beneath his arm. Finally, Logan pulled into the parking lot at the marina. "Si?" He shook her shoulder gently, helping her sit upright so that he could wake her. "Sirenia, come on; time to wake up." She groaned and grumbled as she was roused, but gave in after very little prodding. "We're here." He took her hand in his as he pulled her out of the car and onto the solid ground.

"Where are we?" she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Her hair was pressed flat on the left, where her face had been pressed against the denim of his jeans. The fabric was imprinted on her cheek, proof that she'd fallen deep asleep while he'd driven. Sirenia took a deep breath, inhaling the salty scent of sea air. She looked around her, curious as to where they were. "Why are we at the marina?" she demanded. Logan's nerves spiked. He'd been so sure that this was a good idea, but now that they were there, his fear was killing him.

"We need some time alone, Sirenia. I have some things that I want to say and I'm tired of being interrupted," he explained, looking down at the gravel that was mixing with the sand. Sternly telling himself that it was time for the two of them to figure things out, Logan squared his shoulders and looked at her. "There's a grocery store right over there. We're going to be gone for four days. I have to talk to the man in charge; why don't you go get us some groceries?" he suggested, handing her his wallet.

Sirenia had been suspicious; he'd seen it in her eyes. But she took his wallet and sauntered off without further questioning. Logan looked at the boat that he had rented for the four days that they would be away. It was large, with full living quarters and a restroom. He'd been warned that the kitchen was small, but he didn't care. It was more about having his wife somewhere that he knew would make her comfortable. The vessel that he had chosen was large and would handle the open water. He planned to take her out to her environment, to let her swim and splash around.

So long as she didn't swim away from him, it was a foolproof plan.

"Mr. Howlett," the proprietor said when Logan walked up the steps. "I was surprised to receive your phone call. I was assuming that you would rather take out your own ship than rent one. Yours is, after all, much larger than the one that you rented from us." Logan nodded slowly, kicking himself for not realizing that he owned a boat. Now, he looked like some idiot for renting a boat when he had one.

"I wanted something smaller, a little more intimate, if you catch my drift," Logan said, smiling and sending a knowing wink towards the man in front of him. "The boat that we have is grand and large, but I need something in which my wife can't avoid me." The man in front of him, older and more weathered, but probably a tenth of Logan's real age, smiled and nodded. "So, what's the damage for the rental?" Logan asked, feeling good about his coverup.

"Just the security deposit," the proprietor said, smiling at him. "Your family has own boats with our Marina since the eighties, Mr. Howlett. There's no cost for you, or your wife. How is the lovely Mrs. Howlett today?" the man asked at the same moment that Sirenia's unique scent hit his nose.

"I'm doing just fine, Quentin. How has your wife been the last couple of weeks? I know that you two are anxiously awaiting your granddaughter's arrival," Sirenia said, easily sliding into the conversation. She slid herself into Logan's side, letting him wrap an arm around her waist and holding her tight. She had always helped him acclimate to strange situations, which often included jumping into conversations with people who the Wolverine didn't know he'd known for generations.

Logan listened to the conversation for a few moments before anding the man a card to swipe, excusing both himself and his wife. Sirenia disentangled herself from him, though she threaded their fingers together and let him lead her towards the dock. When she started to turn, though, Logan tightened his hold on her hand and pulled her back towards him. "Our boat is over here, Logan," she whispered to him, pulling him back towards their vessel.

"Our boat may be over there, but the boat we're taking today is over here," Logan said, tightening his hold on her hand and dragging her forward. "I didn't know," he began as he tossed the duffles onto the deck of the boat he had rented, "that we owned a boat and I had already rented this one for our stay. Besides, that boat is way too big. Too many places for you hide." He held out a hand to her, planning to help her across the divide between the gangway and the deck of the boat.

Sirenia jumped across the divide with a practiced ease, turned and stared at her husband. "Hand me the groceries," she commanded. Logan did as she asked, handing the bags that she'd purchased over the divide.

"Is this something that we do a lot?" Logan asked her, worried that his plan was back firing.

"Not really. The boats that we have were purchased for a couple of different reasons. The first one was actually one that you and Victor had built together. Boats were where we used to meet up," she explained, peeling her lightweight sweater from her body and tossing it aside. "Like I said, before Striker's lab, I was never out of the water. I didn't even know how to walk until you taught me."

All of their cargo safely on board, Logan released the ties and pushed the boat out of its parking place. Sirenia watched him jump aboard, his muscles bulging as he hopped over the side and into the ship alongside her. "I think you forgot something, my dear," Sirenia said as she took hold of the wheel and started maneuvering the ship out of the dock and into the open ocean water. "A small ship doesn't make it more difficult for me to hide from you. I can just jump overboard."

"Into potentially shark infested waters?" Logan asked her.

"I lived in shark infested waters," she laughed. Logan watched her until it they were further from the shore. He came to stand behind her, trapping her in between his arms. "Why are we here, Logan? There was no reason for us to try and get away from home," she whispered.

"I think that there is," he replied. "Sirenia, I talked to Jean."

"I don't want to talk about this," Sirenia said, abandoning the steering to turn away.

"Too bad," Logan growled. "I may not remember everything, Sirenia, but I have been learning. And I've learned that you are the furthest thing from a quitter that could possibly exist. All you have been doing is quitting. And I'm sick of it." He tightened his hold on the arm he'd caught, but softened his voice and eyes as he looked at her. "I need to talk to you, Sirenia. If you jump over, I'll only follow you," he said.

"I don't want to talk, Logan," she insisted.

"Then listen. Because this conversation has to happen one way or another."


	19. Chapter XIX

**Author's Note: Imeant to have this chapter up yesterday and I fell asleep. I'm sorry about that. You have to admit, though, most writers on here don't update as often as I do. Also, it's that time of year. I'm putting up a question for all of my lovely, loyal followers. If I were to put up my stories on Wattpad, how would you guys feel about that? Let me know! Oh, and there will definitely be a second chapter up tonight. Enjoy!**

**Chapter XIX**

Logan backed his petite wife against the wheel and glared down at her, hoping that he was coming across authoritative instead of domineering. "I talked to Jean. She told me everything that happened between us," he began, trapping her between his arms. He loomed over her, his eyes darkening. "More importantly than that, Sirenia, there's something that you don't know. I haven't told you because I've been trying to figure things out. I remember." Sirenia's heart stopped beating in her chest. Him remembering _anything_ changed everything for her. "Bits and pieces, I should say. I get glimpses."

Her heart sank a little it. She wanted him to remember everything. She wanted her life back. "I remember picking you, Sirenia."

"No you don't," Sirenia murmured. Because if he did remember it, he would hate her. He would hate her for every putting her in a position where he'd been forced to choose. If he did, he would remember he'd only picked her because Scott and the rest of the team had been coming into the lab at that very moment. He would remember that he'd never had to choose, that eventually Jean had just picked Scott. And Sirenia had been the only one left.

"I know that you're my wife and you get t determine a lot of things, but I don't think you get to tell me what I know," he teased. The sheer terror on her face seemed misplaced. She was supposed to be excited, glad that he remembered anything. She was supposed to throw herself into his arms and kiss him. He was supposed to get to enjoy this moment. Instead, he felt like someone had shot him in the foot. "I remember, Sirenia. And I'm so sorry."

There it was. He was apologizing to her because he didn't really love her. He was apologizing because everything that they'd shared had actually been a lie and she'd been fooling herself into believing that it was something more. His hands settled on her biceps, stepping up close to him. "I should've protected you better than I did, Si. You should've never been taken."

"What are you talking about?" she whispered. She was fairly certain she was going to kill herself if she couldn't her heart under control.

"Striker took you. Jean told me," he replied. "He wanted me back, wanted Weapon X."

"It wasn't the first time that Striker had taken me, Logan. He just knew now that we were friends and that he could use m against you. You don't have to feel back for that. It's pretty basic. Besides, he took Jean, too."

"And they tortured you," he continued. "Sirenia, what they did to you—You can't possibly forgive me for that. Jean squealed. She told them everything, didn't she?"

"Everything that she knew," Sirenia agreed begrudgingly.

"And you were silent. Even when he tried to kill you. When he dislocated your shoulder."

"I was there, Logan; I don't need to recall what happened," she insisted. Because all she could remember was the pain that had ricocheted down her spine and the fear that she'd had when Logan had walked into the room. "Remembering what Jean told you isn't remembering what happened. And what _you_ remember is what you went through before history changed. You loved Jean in that history too, didn't you?"

"He had you hanging by your wrists and drying beneath a heat lamp. He told me that I could save the girl I'd known for fifty years, or I could save the woman that I love," Logan pressed on. He had to get it all out or Sirenia would never hear him out. "Jean apologized for telling. Striker asked if he could bleed you dry."

"So Jean told you all the details," Sirenia dismissed. "If you love her, Logan, than why are we are this boat?" _Why are you torturing me? _she asked him.

"Because Jean didn't tell me those things, Sirenia. And even if she had, she could tell me what had happened and what I said, but she couldn't tell me that I thought I was going to die when I saw your head drop. Do you have any idea what it felt like to watch you drop your weight into those chains? Sirenia, I really thought you were going to die and _that_ tore me apart."

"Your consciousness wasn't even here for that, Logan," she tried, but he sounded so much her husband it was getting difficult to ignore him and the emotions that he was causing in her.

"A part of me was here, Sirenia. It's that part of me that remembers what happened," Logan growled. "Here's something that you may not know, Sirenia. I had to kill Jean. In the world that I know, Jean wasn't able to control her powers. She became a part of the Brotherhood of Mutants and went on a killing spree. Of course, this was when we thought that she was already dead and she'd come back from it."

"I don't think I even want to know," Sirenia muttered.

"I had to kill the woman that I loved, Si. I remember what that felt like. And then I got hit with this memory of you; of what it felt like to see you hanging there. When he started cutting you…that was worse than anything I'd ever gone through. And that includes killing Jean. Maybe in my history I loved Jean, but it's nothing compared to what I felt about you."

"What you _felt_, Logan. You don't _feel_ those things anymore."

"Why are you fighting this so damn hard? Is it so hard to believe that I want you, not Jean? Let me try to explain this to you, Sirenia. I don't want Jean. I want _you_. You're right; my real consciousness doesn't remember you; it doesn't remember feeling in love with you. But I know that a part of me did and I know that I want to again."

"You _want_ to love me," she whispered, not quite believing him.

"I want to _know_ you. You're not giving me the chance, Sirenia. You keep telling me about my life and I appreciate it, but now it's time for me to stop asking questions about my life. I can't just sit here and wonder what's going on in my life, what I've done. It's time for me start living my life, Si. I want to live it with you in it."

"But, what about Jean?" she asked him. Logan growled, lashing his arms around her waist and kissing her again. "You're trying to distract me," Sirenia hissed, but it was almost impossible to think when Logan was moving his lips against her neck. "You're the one who said that you want to talk," she tried again, but Logan wasn't listening. He found the pulse point below her jaw that made her moan and tilt her neck back to give him better access. "Logan—"

"Shut up, Si," he grumbled against her ear. Sirenia caught her lip between her teeth as Logan moved his mouth back to hers to kiss her again. He felt her surrender when she gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck and started kissing him back. Her mouth moved against his, her tongue drawing a line along the seam of his mouth. He welcomed her, gave her everything he had in return. His hands slid from her arms to her waist, tracing the soft curves and womanly shape before him. His hands slid down to her hips, cupping her ample backside in his hands and lifting her up. Sirenia wrapped her legs around his waist to anchor herself to him, letting him kiss the life out of her.

"We should drop anchor," Sirenia whispered. Logan's blood rushed at the thought. He squeezed the flesh that he was holding in his hands, lifting her from where he'd perched her on the steering wheel. "Logan, not downstairs. Logan," Sirenia kept repeating. It was the first time that she felt him moving to drop the anchor and take her below deck. She couldn't keep the smile off her face. It was like the beginning of their relationship all over again. It was like when Logan used to kidnap her, take her away, make sure that she was feeling safe again.

The truth was, Logan had been gone for far longer than just the last few weeks. It wasn't like he had forgotten everything like he had two weeks ago, but as with any relationship, they had stopped putting as much effort into things. Their lives had fallen into a comfortable routine that had been completely thrown off balance when Logan had lost his memories once again. He was certainly acting like he had had back in the beginning. It was a side of Logan that most people didn't get to see, a side that not even Jean Grey had seen.

Calling his name again, Sirenia tugged on his hair to get his full attention. "We're not going below deck, Logan," she said softly.

"You said we should drop anchor. And you were...you cannot say that you were not kissing me back, Sirenia," he growled, his voice more animalistic than human.

"And you said that you wanted to get to know me," she retorted. "I'm not jumping into bed with you, Logan. You'll have to earn that; but I will give you a chance to get to know me. So let's drop anchor. There's something I want to show you."

"We're in the middle of the ocean. Where are we going if we drop anchor?" he demanded.

Sirenia smiled at him, the look on her face obviously making fun of him. "We're going down."


	20. Chapter XX

**Author's Note: This is the last chapter for the night. I ****_need_**** reviews, guys! Even if all you say is that you're enjoying. I just want to know that people are reading. Feedback is always welcome. The new schedule is also up tonight, if any of you take a look at it. I'm going to be structuring it a little differently, to help us get back on track. Enjoy!**

**Chapter XX**

Sirenia was standing on the small ledge that was their boat, her feet bare and excitement evident on her face. The wind was causing the waves to batter the side of the boat, forcing it to rock precariously. Logan was clinging to the flat ledge, worried about what his wife was doing. She was standing in the nude, her creamy skin practically shimmering in the daylight. Her face was turned up to the sky, her eyes closed in bliss, lips parted. She was stunning, freer than he'd ever seen her. She was glorious.

Until she stepped forward and curled her toes over the very edge of the wood. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked, heart thundering. Sirenia tossed her head back and laughed, looking at him over her shoulder. Her smile eased something in him, telling him that everything would be just fine. She held out her hand to him. "You trusted me with everything else that you screamed at me. I think you can trust me to get in this water with me." He eyed her skeptically, slid his hand into hers, but wouldn't step onto the ledge. "It's not like you can _really_ die."

"Oh, that's comforting," he retorted, stepping up onto the ledge and training his gaze on the waves crashing in front of them. Sirenia smiled at him and threaded their fingers together. She jumped, pulling over with her dead weight and reveling in the way the waves rushed up to greet her. The cold ocean water engulfed her legs first. It slithered up her waist and chest before swallowing her whole. She heard Logan's customary curse of terror as the ocean took him as well. Sirenia released her hand as she always did when she first sank below the surface.

Logan felt the water rush into his lungs. He could remember when Erik had wound the metal through his body, when he'd tossed him into that river. When everything had gone black and he'd woken up before Striker for the first time. Striker wasn't the scary part. It had been death; the first time since he'd been a boy that he'd been _afraid_ of dying. He'd had no way of knowing if they'd succeeded, if they'd be able to protect all of his friends from their deaths. He could only remember the fear and the water and…

Sirenia locked her mouth to her husbands, pushing air into his lungs to give him the oxygen that he needed to survive. Drowning was one of Logan's biggest fears. It always had been. She'd forgotten that this man didn't have all the memories of the man that she was married to. He'd drowned in 1973, not knowing what would have come of it. In her history, when they'd reached Xavier's School, Charles had helped Logan regain all the undamaged memories. Fortunately, that had included most of the time that he was in the past. But here…she was fairly certain that Logan hadn't spoken to Charles just yet.

The two of them broke the surface, treading water to keep themselves afloat. Sirenia pulled her mouth away from Logan's, letting him get his first gulp of air that wasn't coming from her in more than a minute. "You're safe, Logan," she promised him, running her hands through his wet hair. "I won't let anything happen to you." It seemed strange to him, that his little wife was promised him safety. It should be the other way around. He should be the one offering her protection. "It was careless of me. I forgot about how things ended for you in 1973."

"I'm fine," he growled. "You could've warned me, though."

"We were standing on the edge of boat looking dow at waves and you were _wondering_ what we're going to do?" she giggled.

"You said that you wanted to show me something, that you were going to help me get to know you again," he retorted.

"And it will. This was my home for…we'll just centuries and leave it at that," she said. "When we met overseas, you and I used to go exploring. At least, that's what we called it. We'd swim around for hours under the water, play games, tell truths. You brought us onto this ship because you knew it's where I would feel comfortable. Well, now I'm going to show you where I'm really comfortable." She threaded their fingers together beneath the water, her arms glittering with sheer scales. Her legs and waist were covered, as Logan was learning was normal for her. But the imagine of that magnificent tail was locked in his mind. The picture of all that she had lost in order to save him…it was haunting. "Come on," she whispered, her excitement palpable.

She pulled the two of them beneath the surface with surprising strength, dragging him lower and lower until he thought that his lungs would explode. Only then did she turn around and kiss him, filling his lungs with air once again. Her mouth moved up from his lips, kissing each of his eyelids and pulling back to smile at him. The water that filled his vision cleared, the blurriness disappearing until he could see clearly the siren swimming before him. "A kiss from a mermaid grants everlasting life," she quoted, her voice like music in his ears. The giggle that followed, however, was even sweeter than anything before. "Or something like that. We can give oxygen and grant you vision underwater, even let you hear. But I can't exactly give you everlasting life. Only give you enough oxygen so that your brain doesn't loose the oxygen supply."

She dragged him behind her, tugging him lower and lower. The water grew colder with each foot of water, but he found that it wasn't so terrible with Sirenia there beside him. Every two minutes or so, she'd stop and kiss him again, filling his lungs with air. "Logan, I'm telling you; one day you'll have to learn to hold your breath for longer than thirty seconds," she teased. The deeper they sank, the more that the world beneath the water came to life. The fish swam in schools, unafraid of her as she skimmed through the water. An animal that looked decidedly like a shark swam up, a little two close for Logan's liking. But his wife didn't stop, just kept going. Their fingertips skimmed the soft sand on the ocean floor until it brushed some crevice. Sirenia pulled them around a corner and into a cave.

She pushed off the floor, the two of them surging to the surface with a smile. "What is this place?" Logan asked as he looked around. The cave was underground, solid at the roof. The rocks were shallow in some places, forming little pools that lapped at the drier rocks.

"You took Banshee out on the boat a few years ago," Sirenia began. "You two were being stupid and somehow found out that there was a cave beneath this ocean. We went swimming and found it down here. It's where we play all the games." Logan's eyebrows waggled suggestively. "Not those kind of games."

"I didn't realize that I had married such a prude." Sirenia giggled. "Why don't you tell me what games we're allowed to play."

"Well, we usually start with tic-tac-toe," she replied. "Winner gets to ask a question. Loser has to answer. And a cat's game ends with both of us answering a question." She picked up one of the rocks and crossed her arm on the ledge while Logan clambered out of the water. Sure enough, there was a play board etched into the stone there. "I'm x's." She scratched her mark into the rocks and waited for him. Logan responded in kind until Logan one.

"Where were you born?" he began, thinking it the most simple of all the questions that he could ask her.

"Greece."

"Is this the only game that we play?" Logan asked her. "Nothing fun like truth or dare?"

"The last time that we played that game, you almost lost on of my favorite appendages in a tug of war with a snapping turtle in the Louisiana bayou," she laughed. "You made me vow to never play that game with you again."

"How about we play the game where you tell me everything that I want to know and I get to ask all the questions?" he suggested.

"Oh, interrogation." She smiled at him. "I suppose we can play that game if you want."

"When were you born?" he asked instantly.

"You didn't know the answer to that _before_ the memory loss and you're not going to find out now. Next," she dismissed.

"Why did you live in the water for so long? There was probably land somewhere around you."

"We lived on land for a little while, but my mother loved water and, when she found out that I was going to be just like her, she knew that I would want to be in the water. We moved into the water just because it was easier. That's when the rumors began. After they killed my mother, I knew that I was going to have to stay in the water. It was safer than it was being on land. Next."

"When did you fall in love with me?" he asked.


	21. Chapter XXI

**Author's Note: I know it's up late, but I got called into work tonight. Anyways, the new schedule is officially up on my profile and I want you guys to make sure that you take a look. There will not be any chapters up tomorrow night. Okay? So, make sure you look. Enjoy!**

**Chapter XXI**

It was a simple question. Probably one that she should be able to answer, but the answer was one that worried her. She'd never told Logan about when she'd fallen in love with him. It hadn't matter to him, at least once he'd started to fall in love with her as well. It wasn't that she thought that her husband didn't love her. In fact, she knew that Logan did. But she also knew that she was his second choice. Or, at least, that was how she had always felt. But after hearing him talk, after listening to him tell her what he felt… She couldn't doubt the sincerity in his voice.

Wasn't it only fair that she gave him as honest of answers as he had given to her? Shouldn't she be that honest? "I think I was in love with you from the very beginning," Sirenia said, deciding that it was best to be candid. "That's not true; I _knew_ I was in love with you from the very beginning. The people called my mother a witch for more than just her siren ways. She could… I want to say that she could see the future, but that's not the right words. My mother could see _something_.

"When I was a little girl, she told me that I would be in danger for a long time, but one day, I would meet a man with the spirit of an animal. He would protect me, keep me safe from the men who would try to hurt me. He would love me." Logan watched her blush and duck her head. "When I met you, I saw that you were different. We talked for a little while and then I realized that you were the man that my mother had talked to me about."

"You've been in love with me for half a century?" Logan asked her.

"Yeah; I have. And I've never told you that story, not even before. It just seemed like something that you wouldn't want to hear about. I mean, thus far, we've yet to meet a mutant who can tell the future," she explained. "Besides, I don't even know if the fortune that my mother gave was real. She might have just been an intuitive person."

"The spirit of an animal. I've been the Wolverine for a long time. You think that's some great coincidence that you met me?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I'll never regret it. You're the greatest person that I've ever met, Logan. I can't regret anything that's happened with us." She reached over the rocks and patted his bare leg, smiled at him. "This was a good idea, Logan. I think that we may have needed this time away from everyone." She rested her upper body on the rocks and looked over at him. Sighing, she relaxed and watched Logan stretch himself out over the stone. "Thank you for this, Logan."

Logan turned his head to look at her. She was resting her head on her folded arms, her eyes shut and her hair drifting over her shoulders. The darkness had turned into that bluish-green seaweed color again. She looked completely relaxed and completely at ease. In fact, it was no surprise to him when her legs came out behind her. The scales began to weave together in front of his eyes, her legs forming into one tail again. "Can I ask you another question?" he asked her, wanting to know the answer to this question. No; he _needed_ to know the answer.

"As long as we're still playing interrogation. Although I think that we can both admit that I am much better at this game than you are," she said with a smile.

"Why don't you hate me?"

"Maybe you missed the part of the conversation where I said that I love you and I'm not sorry about the way that things worked out between us." It seemed that her biting sarcasm was just another part of her personality. Even completely at ease, she still had a bigger attitude than anyone else that he'd ever met. It was a miracle that she'd ever survived in a generation back when women were expected to be submissive.

"They chopped off your fin, but you still have your tail. So why do you keep your legs apart so often? You don't have to, you know. And since I'm the reason that you lost your fin, it would make sense that you would hate me," he explained.

"I don't hate you, Logan. I never could. Losing my fin…it was just something that happened. In exchange, everyone that I cared about was safe. You, Jean, Storm, Hank, Charles, the school…That was all that really mattered in the end," she explained.

"Did it hurt?" he asked next. Sirenia sank down in the water so that her tail was hidden in the dark depths of the water.

"Like the devil." Her eyes looked over the at the wall of the cave, staring unseeingly for a little while. "He used a chainsaw. A regular, household, sixteen-inch seventy-four drive link chainsaw. My scales were thicker than he was expecting, though. It took him hours to get through the scales and then the bone…To make matters worse, he had me sitting underneath those heat lamps. I thought I was going to die—really die."

"How is it possible that you don't hate me? You've lost a lot because of me." The self loathing in his voice stabbed her to her heart.

"About as much as you lost because of me. Your brother, your home, your job, your memories, the woman you were in love with, the _other_ woman you were in love with," she listed off. "You're getting hungry, aren't you? You always do after we swim for a little while. We should get back to the boat." She pushed away from the little ledge. She took a moment to split her tail back to her legs. "And as for your question about _why_ I don't have a tail all the time, I can't really swim without the fin. I can float around and manage in the pool, but I don't really swim without my legs. Come on; we should get going."

Logan slid into the water beside her and let her take hold of her hand again, letting her tow him back to the boat. Logan leaned over the edge after clambering onto the deck, gripped her by her upper bicep, and hauled her in as well.

The rest of the evening passed normally. They talked about nearly everything undertake sun, acted like a normal couple should. At least, they did until it was time for bed. Sirenia stared at the single full sized bunk that was built into the wall of the cabin. She debated for a few moments before changing into her tight shorts and loose tank top and sliding into bed. "If you're serious about wanting to move on with our lives, Logan, we will eventually have to sleep in the same bed. Come on." She patted the bed covers and rolled towards the wall.

Logan stared at her form laying in bed for a few moments before stripping out of his shirt and climbing into bed beside her wife. She snuggled herself back into his chest, pressing her hips against his. He lifted his right arm and froze, unsure how she would feel about him holding her that close. Of course, as always, Sirenia took matters into her own hands. She reached up and grabbed his hand, dragging it down so that his palm rested on the bottom of her ribcage. With her other hand, she dragged his other arm by her head. She wasted no time at all in resting her cheek against his bicep.

"Can we declare your interrogation time over?" she asked, yawning and stretching her back as she tried to form her words.

"What is it that you're wanting to ask?" he replied. Her hair smelled lovely, slightly salty with the ocean water and still floral.

"Does any of this bring up any memories for you?" she asked. This felt far too familiar and safe for her. It was the first day in almost three weeks that she had felt like herself once again. "Or…maybe feel familiar?"

Logan watched make herself more comfortable. She snuggled herself more comfortably into his arms and smiled a little bit. He tightened his arm around her waist, drawing her back closer to his chest and burying his face into her hair. "No; this doesn't feel familiar and I don't haven't had any flashbacks of this," he admitted, though the words stung a little coming out of his mouth. Sirenia was falling asleep. He could hear her breathing slowing down and her heart calming as she began to fall asleep. "I don't remember this at all, Sirenia, and it doesn't feel familiar. But it does feel right, wife of mine." Sirenia gave one final yawn and scrubbed her cheek on his skin again. "Very, very right."


	22. Chapter XXII

**Author's Note: Oh, thank God. I know that it's been some four days since I updated. Those who follow my other stories know that my life got pretty hectic over Halloween weekend (not the weekend that you want to work in a bar, by the way). Anyways, here's there next chapter of the story. Oh, and the schedule for this week is on my profile. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXII<strong>

Sirenia awoke to the feeling of the air being strangled out of her. Something was panting behind her, strong steel-banded arms constricting her, swallowing the life out of her. "Logan," she tried to gasp. Her hands clawed in panic at his arms. It was silly, since she knew that he couldn't _actually_ kill her. It was just basic survival instinct. No one wanted to die, even someone who would come back to life in but a few hours. She scratched at her husband's arms, trying to get him to feel something, to realize that he wasn't in any danger.

Logan was growling under his breath, mumbling things that she couldn't understand. Of course, it wasn't often that she understood his nightmares. She just knew that she was one of the few people that could calm him in the midst of one. "Logan, you're safe. Come on, Logan," she pleaded, her voice mostly breathless as she fought for air. She could feel her ribs cracking, pressing closer to her lungs. Her words were lodging themselves in her throat, refusing to come out with any real force or volume. "Logan," she tried again.

He growled again, gaining more volume before erupting into a shout of epic proportions. His claws extended, going straight through the bicep of her left arm and narrowly missing her face. His eyes opened, as they always did when he'd defeated his fictions foes. She knew that she was sobbing, knew that she needed to stop before he started to feel guilty. They both had nightmares; they both lashed out in their delusions. But Logan had significantly more strength behind his fights than she did. She could never hurt him as much as he hurt her, even when she'd attacked him with a knife.

Logan breathed hard, trying his damnedest to figure out where he was. It was always that way after his nightmares. He could never quite recall where he was or what he was doing or who he was with. It wasn't until he heard the soft weeping of a woman in his arms. He pushed himself up on one elbow, looking down at his wife and see the metal protruding from her arm. "Sirenia," he whispered, realizing what he must have done, who he had been fighting against.

"I'm fine," she rushed to assure him, but her voice lacked conviction. Even worse, it trembled when she spoke. Her mouth was stuck upon like a fish out of water while she gasped for air and fought against the pain. "I'm fine." She repeated the phrase over and over again, trying to make it real enough for her husband to believe her.

The retraction of his claws hurt nearly as bad as it had going in and was just as surprising. She curled her fingers into his arm as she breathed against the pain, her nails biting into his skin. "Sirenia, I'm…Oh God—" He was practically sobbing, though no tears ran down his face. He didn't know how else to express how sorry he was. She shouldn't be the one to pay the price for his pain.

He was used to the nightmares that had always tortured him: the needles pressing into his skin, fusing the precious meteoritic metal into his skull, the pain of it all. But having nightmares about Sirenia, watching her die, watching her be tortured, remembering things that he'd never known before…he wasn't sure how he was supposed to deal with those. For the last two days, they'd lived in a blissful peace aboard their little ship, away from the rest of the world. He should've known that it would be too good to last, that something would come and ruin it.

Sirenia's blood was running into the sheets, the vibrant red fading to purple as the linens absorbed her life source. "I don't know…Sirenia, I'm so sorry. How do I fix this? Is there something that I—"

"Sh," she hushed him. "Everything is just fine. Just," she groaned in pain and clutched him tighter. "Just hold me and wait. The pain will pass and the bone will begin to heal," she promised.

"This shouldn't have happened. I've done this before. I've hurt people before."

"I really don't want to deal with the pity party right now, Logan," she grumbled, nestling herself closer to his chest. "Tell me what you dream was about. That always helps you. Start talking."

"Normally, my memories are all the same. I remember what it felt like to be experimented on, to have that metal shoved into my bones. It's enough torture. But in all the years that I've had these nightmares, I've never once had one where someone else is being hurt, is being _tortured_. I saw you, Sirenia. I saw you in front of me, screaming, pleading with me to save the kids and leave you there. It kept cutting in and out, like one of those old VHS tapes that was missing part of the tape. I couldn't remember what happened in the end, only that he was holding you there, and you kept telling me to get Kayla and Emma and the kids that he'd been experiment on out." He held her tighter, wishing he could take some of her pain away. He had caused it. He just had to save her some of the pain.

"You don't remember because that was when Striker shot you in the head with the adamantium bullets," Sirenia mumbled. "You were lucky to survive. And I was lucky to be on top of you, or you might have left me there to die."

"Sometimes, you make me sound so heroic," he said, smoothing her hair away from her face. "And other times, you may me sound like the worst sort of villain that has ever existed."

"It's the warring sides of you," Sirenia said. She could feel the tissue in her arm starting to mend itself, pulling the fibers together and allowing the flesh to heal. The blood's trickling slowed until it was almost nothing. Sleep was coming after her, giving her very little time to explain things to her husband. "Sometimes, you hold me and you're gentle. Sometimes, you brush my hair with your fingers and you kiss my cheek. And other times, you become more animal than man. You get so lost in the pain that you've known, in the things that have happened to you. Physical and mental."

"I don't think that I will ever understand how you don't hate me. I just stabbed you and you're still acting like I've done nothing wrong," Logan grumbled.

"Oh, don't you worry. I'll have a nightmare or two soon enough and I'll pay you back," she promised. Enough strength had returned to her arm that she was able to flip around and pillow her face on his chest. "I don't hate you, Logan, because none of this is your fault. Do you realize that you have literally changed the course of history, gone back in time and changed _everything_ and things still turned out this way? I was still tortured. The only difference is that in one world I ended up dead. I think I prefer it that way."

"Can I ask you a question?" Logan said, looking at the arm that was healing before his eyes. Was this how people felt when they watching him heal? It was strange to know that she had been so gravely hurt and would be just fine in less than an hour.

"You only have a few minutes. Every time that this happens, I fall asleep faster than you can imagine," she whispered drowsily.

"Look, we're uh…we're heading back to the mansion and I know that it's not exactly what you're wanting to talk about right now. Hell, after what just happened, I'm not entirely sure you'll want to come back with me, but I was just thinking… What I'm trying to ask you is—maybe, if you don't mind, or rather if you'd like to, we could—"

"I'll move back into our room," she cut in, yawning broadly and snuggling up to his chest.

"How did you know that's what I was going to ask?" Logan demanded, trying to act indignant when, in fact, he was impressed with her ability to know exactly what he was trying to say.

"Because, whether you recognize it or not, I know you, James Howlett," she was muttering. "And the last time that you asked me if I would move into the room with you, you stumbled through it like that. It ended a little different last time, of course. I kissed you and you ended up dragging me up the stairs and off to bed last time. But we can talk about that a different time. I'm going to bed."

At least he could be sure of one thing. His plan to get his little wife to listen to him had worked. Now he just had to wait and see what awaited them when they got back to the mansion.


	23. Chapter XXIII

**Author's Note: Enough fluff for a little while, right? Enjoy! Oh, and reviews!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXIII<strong>

Logan hadn't been able to get back to sleep the rest of the night. Instead, he'd stared at the walls of the small bunk around them. Sirenia had gone back to sleep after giving him the information that she knew everything about him. Her arm had taken longer to heal that his would have, but she had healed completely. She was curled in his arms, her hips pressing against his as she dreamed peacefully. She acted as if nothing bothered her, not the pain that he had inflicted, not the things that had been revealed over the weekend. The woman was a mystery. She was all give and no take.

He was going to have to learn how to give. He'd never had to before; never had someone that he wanted to _give_ to. Even loving Jean hadn't felt like this. He had never felt a need to protect and cherish and give everything that he had. He was attracted to her, deeply attracted. And it hadn't just been her body, though. He'd loved Jean's mind, her intelligence and everything else about her, too. But Sirenia…

He couldn't even describe what he felt for Sirenia. Jean had been wild, exciting. Maybe that was what made him cling to her. She'd been an adventure that he could embark on. Sirenia was safe and familiar, something that reminded him about the good in the world, the people that he wanted to protect. At the same time, the little woman he called wife was mysterious. There were pains in her past that no one knew, secrets that she was hiding in her soul. She'd known pain, suffering, torment, torture…and she had the biggest heart of anyone he'd ever met. She'd had everything taken away from her, and she continued to give.

The morning took an eternity to arrive, but it wasn't as tortuous as Logan thought it would be. In the night, in the long hours lulling with the waves knocking against the boat, Logan had time to think about what his next step needed to be. Having his memories erased had made him spontaneous, had taught him to think of his feet. But by nature, he was a strategist. He enjoyed planning, liked to think about how people would react and what he could do to get what he wanted out of people. And what he wanted out of Sirenia was his life back.

Sirenia stretched like a cat in the empty bed before realizing that it was an _empty_ bed. She looked around in some confusion, feeling the warmth lingering on the sheets beside her. Wherever Logan had gone, he had only just recently left her. Leaving the warmth of the bed for the crisp sea air was a double edged sword. She was so comfortable at the moment, leaving sounded like a terrible idea. On the other side, the salty sea air had always struck home in her heart. And Logan would be waiting up there for her, which would only make it better.

Groaning and stretching one last time, Sirenia rolled out of bed and struggled into the heavy knit cardigan before trudging up the stairs. Logan was sitting in the chair before the steering wheel, one bare foot tucked beneath his thigh. "We have to head home today," he said when she came up the stairs, having smelled her sweet scent when the wind picked it up. "Probably about time that we dig the cell phones out of their spot downstairs," he added. Sirenia rolled her neck around, feeling the tightness in her shoulders. "Do you want to go for a little swim before we get back?"

"We'll lose too much time," Sirenia replied. "Besides, the water is cold and you hate cold water."

"Well, you go for a swim. I know that you swim faster than you do when the two of us are together," he replied. There was something in his brain that was telling him to grab hold of his little wife and kiss her, that it was something she would enjoy. He pulled his hand back, though, before he could give into the urge. "This whole weekend was supposed to be about the two of us. I think you enjoying a swim at whatever speed you use is something to do with us. Go, swim."

"Only for twenty minutes," she insisted, peeling off her pajamas and throwing them on the deck. "I'll be right back."

Logan watched her dive smoothly into the water and disappear beneath the murky surface. She kicked back to the surface and waved a scaled hand at him. He waved back and watched her disappear from his sight again. "Probably some shit storm waiting for us back at the mansion," he whispered to himself. The open expanse of water was stunning, perfect. Sirenia was somewhere beneath the surface, swimming and playing to her heart's content. The weekend had been paradise for the two of them. It had allowed them to work everything out, to talk to each other. To become a couple again, instead of people who just happened to be married.

Now the question was how long reality would wait to shatter their paradise. How long would he have to wait before Jean was standing before them and Sirenia began doubting herself? How long would it take for everything to unravel again? He'd just have to work his ass off, make her believe that he wouldn't change his mind. "Logan!"

"Si?" He killed the motor and jumped to his feet, looking over the edge of the ship. "Sirenia?" he called again, looking down over the water for any glimpse of her.

"Logan!" he heard again, but couldn't find Sirenia anywhere. "Logan!" Off in the distance was another boat, not too far from where the boat was settled. "Let me go!"

"Sirenia!" His instinct told him to jump into the water and swim the distance towards her, but even as he stepped onto the ledge, he realized how stupid that was. There was no way that he could swim all the way out there. He'd never read her in time. The motor roared to life again as Logan rushed through the water, towards what was now his enemy.

Sirenia flopped her feet around, but her toes were caught in the rope of the netting someone had thrown in the water. The area they were in didn't allow fishing, which meant that whoever had captured her was either doing something illegal, or was hunting mermaids. "Let me go," she shouted again, wrapping her fingers around the thick ropes. Though she could breathe underwater, she wanted to stay at the surface. "Logan!" She could hear motors in the water, but couldn't be certain whether it was the boat that had cast the net or her husband's.

Despite how far down she swam, Sirenia couldn't manage to get untangled from the nylon rope netting. "It's good to see you again, Miss Sirenia," she heard above her. Her heart thudded as she realized whoever was above her _knew_ her. They hadn't been hunting mermaids; they were hunting her. "I hope you don't mind, but we're going to have to take a little drive. I can't pull you up on the boat yet, either."

"Let me go, you bastard!"

"Your husband is only a few feet behind us. We just have to go a little ways. There's an alcove that we know of where we can lose the Wolverine and get you onto the deck. Just give us a few," he said. Unfortunately, he was keeping himself at a far enough distance that Sirenia couldn't quite make out his features and see who it was that had taken her. There was a part of her that wanted to snarl and snap, that wanted to argue that Logan wouldn't stop just because he couldn't find them. He wouldn't take that damn boat back in until he found her.

Besides, being in the water would be better. If she could swing herself close enough to the propellor, she might just be able to get the ropes against the blade and make a hole big enough for her to slip out. Maybe she could even jam the propellor in order to buy time. While she was a relatively calm person, Sirenia was a bloodthirsty person once she or someone she cared about was threatened. At the moment, simply escaping these monsters wasn't going to be enough. They were going to pay dearly for taking her. If Logan didn't make them pay, she sure as hell would.

"Logan!" she shouted again, seeing his boat coming closer and closer.

"Sorry, love," a clearly accented voice said. "I can't exactly have you getting away or letting him know where we're going."

"He's going to kill you!" Sirenia warned, but it was too late. She saw the wooden bat swinging for me before she had even finished my sentence. The pain seared through her head, blood mingling in the water around her. Her last thought, before the black shrouded everything else, was that she was grateful there weren't predatory fish known to these waters.

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><p><strong>Author's Note Cont.: Thoughts? Predictions? Questions? Outrage? I want to hear it all. Enjoy!<strong>


	24. Chapter XXIV

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I know it's been a little while since an update (again) but I have a double coming at you tonight if I get THREE REVIEWS. Oh, and if you wouldn't mind taking a moment to vote, I have an idea for a new story. So, please leave a review or send me a PM letting me know if you would prefer a ****_Les Miserables_**** story or a story from BBC One's ****_Merlin_****? Okay? Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXIV<strong>

There wasn't going to be enough time to get to her. Logan could see the boat speeding around a bend, one where he knew the sea caves were lurking. He could spend hours searching them if he lost sight of their boat. The fact that Sirenia had stopped screaming his name and shouting threats at him only made his nerves worse. His wife was a fighter; that he knew for certain. She was either dead, at least for the moment, or unconscious if she wasn't screaming at him.

He tried to calm himself by rationalizing that she was simply underwater. She could struggling, swimming away, fighting against whoever had her. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to hear her or see her or protect her. Not from here, at least. Of course, getting _below_ the surface would be nearly impossible. Not deep enough or for long enough to actually protect his wife, anyway. No; his best bet was to stay on the boat and follow the ship that had taken Sirenia. If she made it away from her captors, Sirenia would make it back to their vessel and climb aboard. For now, this was the best course of action.

He pushed the throttle to full speed as he neared the bend. He was too far behind to have caught up before the turn, but he could speed up now; he could see where they ducked in. Except that there was no other ship on the horizon. He could nothing, no one. There wasn't even a wake for him to follow. "Sirenia!" he screamed, looking around for any sign that Sirenia was underneath the surface. She could splash, make a movement beneath the water; he just needed to know where she was.

He brought the boat to idle, looking at the water in front of him. There was no ship there. But there was no way that they could have vanished without a trace, without anything there to be seen. Unless there was a mutant aboard who could shield things from view, manipulate colors or minds or…whatever. He didn't care how it was done, only what it could mean. He surged the boat forward, making circles every few feet. If the boat hadn't turned into one of the caves, he should've run into it by now. Which left one option: the boat had disappeared and his wife was gone.

"Charles!" he shouted then, pulling the boat to a stop. "Charles, I need you to find her!" He snarled aloud when he received no response. "I know that you can hear me! You hear me no matter where I am. Charles, you have to find her." When all that he heard was silence and the cawing of seagulls, Logan turned the boat around and headed swiftly for shore, for the harbor. If he could get back t the mansion, he could find out where his wife was. And God help the poor souls who had taken her, because he was feeling far from merciful.

His arrival in port was hasty. Okay, his arrival in port was chaotic. Logan abandoned the wheel as soon as he could and leapt to the dock, hold his cell phone in his hand and deftly tying the ropes. He left everything aboard the ship, the food, their clothing, their bags. He didn't care. He wanted his wife and the rest could be damned. He held the phone against his ear as he drove, slightly maniacally, back towards the mansion. "Thank you for calling Xavier's School for—"

"Katie, I don't need a greeting. I need Charles," he interrupted. "It's an emergency."

"Then you should have called the emergency line," Katie retorted. "I'll patch you through." Logan thought he was going to scream when the theme from _Jeopardy_ played in his ear as he was put on hold. His wife's life was in danger and he was listening to a television's theme.

"Logan? I heard you calling. I haven't been able to find her," Charles said instantly.

"You heard me calling and you chose to ignore me?" Logan growled. "You can find any mutant in this world. What do you mean that you cannot find her? She was taken!"

"How far are you from the mansion?"

"Less than an hour. Sirenia went into the water and—"

"Kurt is coming to get you. Pull over."

"Charles, where is she? Why can't you find—"

"Pull over."

His body obeyed the command without his brain's consent and pull the car to the side of the road. Kurt appeared in its interior, his midnight blue skin etched with the scars he'd created on his skin. "Let's go," was all he said before grabbing Logan's wrist and transporting him back to the mansion, directly in front of Charles.

"Sirenia got in the water to go for a swim. She wasn't gone more than fifteen minutes when she started screaming for me. There was another ship and I followed it but they weren't there. So where is she?" It took every ounce of control not to grab one of his oldest friends out of his wheelchair and shake him. "Where is she!" he shouted.

"Wherever she is being kept, I cannot sense her. I can't talk to her and I can't locate her," the Professor replied.

"What about Cerebro? Use Cerebro. It amplifies your power; it can help you find her, can't it? Charles, we need to find Sirenia," Logan growled. "Before it's too late."

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><p>Sirenia rolled her head around to crack her neck, feeling the water tug at her hair as she moved. At least she was still underwater. She was safer here. "You bastards!" she shouted, letting the air form a bubble that would burst at the surface. "Let me go or believe me you'll regret it," she added. The net trapped her too far below the surface for her to see who her captors were, too far to efficiently hurt anyone the way that she wanted to, at least.<p>

She floated below the water like a petulant child who had been placed in time out. Her mind boiled and raced with all the possible tortures she could so kindly bestow on the men who had taken her. Whatever their plan well, it didn't bode well for herself or the school. More often than not, any attack on one of the X-Men was a way to hurt Charles or the school. It was usually extremists, people who still believed that mutants were monsters. In this case, however, Sirenia suspected that it was mutants that had taken her.

There were a few mutant groups that hated the school, felt that it was wrong of the Professor to be promoting peace between the humans and the mutants. Most notably was the Brotherhood of Mutants, but there were others: the Anti-Integration League, the Superior Race, and some more. This though, kidnapping one lone mutant woman, was hardly any of their calling cards. Usually, they were more ostentatious. Most of the groups that opposed the school and the Professor _wanted_ the attention. They wanted the rest of the world to know that they had done something.

The stealth with which she had been kidnapped wasn't right. This was someone else, someone that she had never encountered before. She briefly wondered if it was Striker's people who had come back for Logan, but discredited the notion. They would have lorded her capture over the Wolverine, told him that they had her and asked for a trade. No; this wasn't right. None of this was right and she had no way of knowing who she was fighting against. So, she sighed and drummed her fingers on her cheek, waiting for the bastards who had taken her to reveal themselves.

She was reminded almost instantly of her husband, of how humorous he found it when she would wait, her impatience obvious. In the times that they'd been held together, Logan would always find it comical that she would hum or run her fingers rhythmically over any available surface. "It's hardly any fun to play when I'm playing all by myself," she added, looking up at the water. The sun made such pretty patterns, the way that it pierced the water and radiated like it had hit shards of glass.

She was hauled from the water like a tuna that had just been speared. The water rushed down her body, crashing over her like a tidal wave. Someone had hooked the net to a boom, like what was used on a commercial fishing vessel. It dropped her roughly to the ground, her shoulder and hip hitting the wooden deck. "I see you've finally grown balls big enough to face me," she snarled, thrashing in the net. She caught sight of one man's foot and lifted her hand, focusing her attention on him until she could feel the water in his body begin to boil.

Something sharp and thick pierced her calf, the shock of it forcing her to release her hold on the man's blood. "Well, well, well," a familiar voice said above her. "Look what I've found here."

She rolled enough to look, deciding that the man's throat would be the first thing she boiled to oblivion. Oh how he would scream when she turned each of his tears into a tiny source of torture. "John!" she gasped.

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><p><strong>Author's Note Cont.: Okay? So, three reviews and <em>Merlin<em> or _Les Miserables_? REVIEW**


	25. Chapter XXV

**Author's Note: And voila! I hope you all enjoy. As always, I love reviews and hope that you guys are feeling generous enough to give me at least four. It's not a requirement, but it tells me that you guys are enjoying. XOXO!**

**Chapter XXV**

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Sirenia snarled. "You were one of my students!" John Allerdyce stared at his former teacher with nothing short of contempt on his face. "I knew you'd joined up with the Brotherhood, but I never thought that you would come after the people who cared about you. The Professor, Ms. Monroe, me, Mr. Summers, we all care about you. We still do. All we want is for you to come back home, to turn away from the Brotherhood, John," she insisted.

"It's Pyro; I don't go by the name my _human_ parents gave to me," he retorted, his lip curling in a snarl. "And as for the Brotherhood…Well, let's just say I have parted ways from them. They grew soft after Magneto went back to that school. That damned institution. You claim to be a place of understanding and tolerance, a place where young mutants can be safe—"

"I forgot how terribly you were mistreated there," Sirenia snapped back. "I must have forgotten how the Professor betrayed your trust by constantly digging through your mind, how Jean used her knowledge of medicine to implant a mind control device in your brain, how Hank tortured you on the daily and—"

"Yeah, yeah; I get it," Pyro cut in. "You don't see the harm that school does to mutants. You're just like the rest of them, an indoctrinated sheep."

"How exactly do we hurt you students? What is that we do? Provide a home and a family? Give you a safe place to express yourselves?" Sirenia demanded, casting the net free of her legs and shoving to her feet.

"You don't protect us. You teach us that we have to hide amongst our own people to be safe. You show us that the only way to be secure in the world is to hide who we are from humans. We're not like them, Siren, no matter how much you all want us to be." She found it interesting that he called people by the "superhero names" they'd earned in school and from one another. He was rejecting any part of him that had ever been connected to humans. "We are not humans. We are superior to them. It's men like Hank and Charles and places like his precious school that ruin our people."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Sirenia said. "Do you know the things that I can do? Do you have any idea? I could kill you and every single one of your men this instant. I don't do that," she said, looking at him, at the blond streaks in his hair and the fuel piping that lined his arms. "It would only take me a snap of my fingers to turn your brain to goo or to twist the marrow in your bones and snap your neck. I could kill all of you, John, and I don't. Because I'm not like you."

"But you _are_ like us, Sirenia. Don't you understand?" He laughed at the look on her face. "Anyways, let me get to the good part of the story here. The Brotherhood grew soft when Magneto walked away. They stopped recruiting and just began their little demonstrations. A bombing here or there, a riot somewhere else. We used to be the group that all other groups fought to be like. We used to set the bar. Now, we're nothing more than a protest group, a abolitionist movement."

"At least you learned something in history class," she spat at him. "I get it. Things weren't dangerous and violent enough for you, so you turned away from the Brotherhood. What did you do next? Why did you take me, John?"

"My name is Pyro!" A flick of his wrist had the lighter fluid traveling down his arms and igniting the small flame in his palms. "And you didn't let me finish my story," he added, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he looked at her. "The government put a few of us on the on a watch list. Me, Juggernaut, Houdini here, and Spitfire. We're hunted down. We can't even go into a grocery store without the police being called."

"You're wanted men. That's not exactly surprising. Perhaps you don't remember when you tried to kill senators and diplomats? When you, John, _you_, tried to assassinate a president. Of course you're wanted men," she scoffed.

"I'm a woman," the one called Spitfire said, stepping forward to glared down at Sirenia.

"And I'm a mermaid. According to your friend _Pyro_ here, it doesn't matter what you are. We're all mutants. That's all there is to it," Sirenia spat.

"We were approached by a couple of men who shall remain nameless," John continued. "They offered us a rather tidy sum in exchange for you, Miss Sirenia." His smiled turned from cocky to downright evil. Sirenia felt her blood run cold. You see, in exchange for you, the fine gentlemen who hired us were willing to see to it that we were wiped from those lists and our records were expunged. All we have to do is bring you," he pointed both forefingers at her, "to them." Her jerked his thumbs up to the sky, just behind him. She saw the plane coming closer to her, to the boat that they were on. "I'm not quite sure what they want with you, Siren, but they have certainly found our price."

"And what will happen to you then?" she shouted over the roaring of the plane as it came closer to her. "You can't go back to the Brotherhood unless you want to die. Don't you remember? Blood in, blood out. That was the way that Erik intended it to be. Who will you all become? Bums on the street? Thieves and murderers? A record may be expunged, but that doesn't mean that you cannot create a new one."

A rope ladder dropped to the deck of the boat, men leaning out over the side of the plane. "If you think that I'll be climbing that thing on my own, you've lost you mind. You may have taken me against my will, but you can't force me to cooperate. Give it shot, but it'll only end in heartache. I'll kill you before I go along with this plan, John."

"Give it a shot, Siren. I'll kill you before you can kill me," he laughed.

"Maybe you don't understand what it is I can do," Sirenia laughed. "I can control water. Name one thing around us that doesn't have two hydrogens and an oxygen in it _somewhere_. Even your lighter fluid," she chuckled, making a come-hither motion with her fingers. The fluid, or what part of it was water, leapt from the lines on his arms and formed into a ball in her hands. "Maybe if you had stayed in school a little longer, you would have learned how to start your own fire instead of relying on lighters."

The heavy drop of feet behind her warned her that someone was approaching. She waited, her eyes trained on John and his friends in front of her, but her ears listening to the people grow closer. One man laid a hand on her shoulder, his grip strong ad fierce. Sirenia gripped his wrist within her hands, heating the blood in the veins to the point of burning. He released her, but not before she could shoved him away and give him a swift kick where it would hurt the most. Using every skill that Logan had ever taught her, Sirenia fought her way through the hordes of men. Some were tossed over her shoulder like they weighed little more than nothing. Others were felled with blows to specific body points her husband had shown her.

She was only a breath away from the ocean when something caught her about the waist and hauled her upwards. "No!" she screeched, looking at the ocean and beckoning it closer and closer to her. It rose higher, following her upwards towards the plane. She had to warn Logan and the team. They had to know that someone was paying for capture.

"Just knock her unconscious," someone suggested as Sirenia began pouring buckets of water atop the men trying to hold her. Finally, she looked up at the well dressed man who had his arms about her waist and began commanding the hand about her waist to loosen. If she fell, even if she died, she'd land in the water and come back to life. Of course, that also made her vulnerable to the people that were trying to take her.

"No; she'll do us no good unconscious. Besides, I'm rather enjoying this display of her power." The voice was one that she had never heard. It was old, though, grizzled. Sirenia thought about raising the water up to helicopter, but couldn't. She didn't doubt some of these men were innocent, some of them just doing what they were paid to do in order to keep food on the table. Some might even feel like they were doing what needed to be done. No; she couldn't be responsible for killing them.

Sirenia felt herself be unceremoniously tossed into the plane, the metal flooring hitting her roughly. The water that she'd been raising collapsed with her grunt. She rolled from her side to her feet instantly, her chest heaving and scales beginning to dry. She made ready to jump when she was restrained again, this time with something that felt like smoldering chains. She gasped at the pain it caused, crying out against the burning. Her body did not tolerate heat, at least not like this. She was a creature that was meant to live in the water, meant to survive in the cold.

"Hello, Sirenia," the polite old voice greeted her. "It's about time that we met. I have been most interested in your case since your time with the government."

"You mean since I was a prisoner of Striker's," she snarled. "Release me. Now. You will not like the consequences of this."

"You're far too kind to harm someone like me," he said, finally stepping from the shadows. "How rude of me not to give you a proper introduction. I am Dr. Trask."


	26. Chapter XXVI

**Author's Note: I am so fortunate to have readers such as you all. I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate every single follow, favorite, and review that I get. I hope that you are all enjoying the story. I know that some of you feel that the chapters are a little short, but hopefully the frequent updates can make up for that. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXVI<strong>

"She came up like a blip on a radar," Charles was saying two days later. Logan was pacing the floor like a rabid dog, his frustration evident. He'd gone back in the jet to try and find Sirenia, but there had been no sign of her…anywhere. Despite how hard everyone had searched, it was literally as if their boat had vanished. What was worse, though, was returning to the mansion and finding out that Charles had found her for a minute or two, but then she'd disappeared, off the grid…again.

For the last forty-eight hours, Logan hadn't been able to do a damn thing. Charles had been able to find her for a few hours, had even tracked her location to the center of New York City, but hadn't been able to find out more before she'd disappeared again. "Wherever she is, it's not somewhere that I can find her for long, Logan. She was there and then she disappeared; as fast as a blip on a radar." It was the same thing that he'd been saying for hours. Sirenia's presence was there one second and gone the next. There was no way to track her.

Logan knew that he was becoming more animal than man. He had no way of knowing where his wife was, who had taken her, or how he was going to get her back. He only knew that he _needed_ to get her back. The pain that was sitting in his heart, the barb that was lodged there, was worse than anything that he had ever felt before. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, this wasn't a memory. He couldn't dismiss his lost, scared feeling as something that a different part of his brain or a different consciousness had felt. This was _him_. He was feeling this. His wife was in danger and _he_ wanted her back.

"Why would someone take her, Charles?" Logan snarled, sinking down into the chair. If he wasn't careful, he was going to lose his mind. No one could just disappear the way that Sirenia had. "Who keeps taking her? That's what I want to know."

"I would have thought that Sirenia would have explained to you," Charles began, his eyes darting around a little while his shoulder slumped.

"Explained what to me?" He perked up instantly. Any piece of information could give him a reason that someone had taken Sirenia, which might tell him _who_ had taken her. He could find her, then. He just needed the chance to figure out who had her. "What hasn't she been telling me?"

"Sirenia is…ancient. I don't mean it in a bad way. I simply mean, the memories that I have been able to gather from her brain are hundreds of years old. The earliest memory that I've seen in her head is her splashing in the Nile River in Egypt. During the Ottoman rule," Charles explained. Logan just stared at him with confusion.

"Oh, come on, Wolverine," Erik cut in. "You're the history teacher here. That would have been sometime in the seventh century. You're wife is more than a thousand years old."

"And someone wants to kidnap her because of her age?" Logan asked now.

"She's the closest thing to immortal that people have been able to find. Striker took her to harness her ability to breathe underwater and her immortality. She is the only other mutant, besides you and Victor, that we've heard of who has lived a longer than normal lifespan," Charles explained.

"They want to know why," Erik jumped in again.

"Every other time that Striker's taken her after?"

"Sirenia's blood holds the key to immortality, but you hold the key to everything else," the Professor said. "Sirenia has lived for more than a thousand years, but it was your strength and healing that Striker wanted."

"Sirenia heals too," Logan pointed out.

"But not as fast as you do. Striker wanted Sirenia so that he could figure out what made her live for so long. As soon as he figured out how important Sirenia was to you, though, she became a tool for keeping you under control."

Logan frowned, trying to sort things through. "In my history, Striker died. Here, did he—did I?"

"No. Your wife saved him from the cold, dark despair of death when she saved Jean," Erik snarled, obviously disgusted by Sirenia's actions. "She went down to save Jean and she couldn't just leave him there to die."

"But we kept him, right? Or we turned him over to someone that we trust, right?"

"Striker went back to the government," Hank said. "He was a member of the United States army and, when he became a fugitive of the law, had to be brought back to the army for sentencing."

"But the army put him to death, did they? I mean, they wouldn't let a man who was torturing people go free, would they?" Hank winced and looked down at the ground. "Would they!?"

"It was a different time," Hank argued. "It was back when mutants were still seen as evil, back when Senator Kelley was still rallying against the integration of known mutants in everyday school systems."

"They let him live? Why would they let him live?" He growled, feeling his hands trembling as he grew close to losing control. "Think of all the innocent people that he hurt. He killed me. He killed Sirenia. Think of all the shit he did to his own son, Charles. How could you let him live?"

"I wasn't in any control of it, Logan. Our delivering Striker back to the American government was a sign of good faith. It was the foundation upon which our deal with the government and the treaties that we know today were built upon." The Professor hovered closer to his desk, digging through his drawers to pull out a file. "You and Sirenia both hated that we let him free, but there was nothing that we could do. Trask—"

"Trask?" His heart stuttered as he recognized the name. "Why is Trask still alive? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Trask was the head of the Mutant Integration Committee," Hank said, his eyes furrowed. "After the Sentinel Project failed, Trask went on the defensive. Instead of trying to identify and kill mutants, he started trying to fight _for_ them. Everything changed when he met Raven. He became devoted to trying to find out what causes mutations and why the people change."

"Trask became obsessed with mutants," Erik snapped. "He may have started the Integration Committee, but we know that's not what he cared about. Trask had a mutation. Achondroplasia."

"Dwarfism?" Logan asked.

"But it's not the mutation that he wanted," Magneto continued. "Trask has been searching for what makes mutants the way that they are because he wants to _be_ a mutant."

"Beneath the guise of research," Hank continued. "Trask began the Mutant Integration Committee in correlation with the Mutation Research Clinic."  
>"The government clinic that made the cure," Logan muttered,his brain struggling to make sense of it all. Trask wanted to be a mutant. But why?<p>

"What cure?" Hank muttered.

"It's a long story. The cure doesn't exist here, though?"

"No. I've never heard of a cure for mutants. Don't you think it would be popularized? Weaponized? Everyone would use if it they had the chance," Hank thought.

"That's exactly what happened. The government used it to cure any mutant that they thought was dangerous," Logan explained. "When I went back to the 70s, Trask was already in his late thirties. It's been almost fifty years since then. Is Trask even still alive?"

"And as relentless as he was about the Sentinels back when, he's more insane about mutants now," Charles inserted.

"This is ridiculous," Logan shouted. "I thought that everything would be perfect in this world, but I guess I didn't realize how messed up it was. You're letting people like Striker live! Thornton already told us that there was plenty of mutant experimentation. If Sirenia's been taken by the government, there will be no getting her back. They've probably figured out how to keep Sirenia off of your radar. And I'm not going to sit here and wait for my wife to come back or for you to find her. I'll find her myself."

"Logan, you can't just go out and—What are you doing? What are you going to do?" Hank asked.

"I'll be back when I've found my wife. Any of you feel like coming around to help me, that'd be great. But I'm not going to sit in a plush mansion and wait for someone to find out where she is. Sirenia is smart. She's left us clues somewhere. I just have to find her," he snapped.

"Logan, it's like you said," Jean said, stepping into the room as well. "Sirenia is smart and she's strong. Maybe you should just wait for her to—"

"I'm not waiting. And Jean?" He looked back at the woman who had once held his heart. "Don't talk about me waiting for my wife."


	27. Chapter XXVII

**Author's Note: Okay, so I lied to you guys yesterday by not having a chapter up. I'm so very sorry. I try to update as often as I can guys, but writing FanFictions doesn't exactly pay the bills (heaves heavy sigh). Anyways, enough about my stupidity and inability to update for you guys. I hope you all enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXVII<strong>

Sirenia bit the inside of her cheek as she waited for the black, broadcloth bag to be yanked from her head. She'd spared a moment to thank her lucky stars for the fact that she'd been left conscious. _Charles! Jean! _She alternated the names, hoping that she would get someone's attention. But neither one of them seemed inclined to respond to her, frustrating thought it was. Calling out for Logan would do her no good, since he wouldn't be able to hear her. All she could do was bide her time and strike when the moment came.

When neither Jean nor Charles seemed able to hear her after half an hour, Sirenia gave up and leaned against the cushioned upholstery of the helicopter's chair. Her mind raced, trying to recall everything she knew of Bolivar Trask. Unfortunately, all that she could recall was his work with the Sentinel project. He was the whole reason that Logan had gone back in time, to stop his death and make sure that the Sentinel project never came to be. As far as she knew, between what Logan had told her when he'd had his memories and what Charles had told her throughout the years, they'd been successful.

She knew little about what had become of Trask after the fail of the Sentinels. It had been what he lived for, what he'd been studying for so long. Of course, when his mutant seeking robots had turned around and nearly killed the President of the United States, the project was shut down. Logan's trip back to 1973 had changed everything in the future. Mystique's saving the President had made everyone more amenable to mutants, had allowed the Integration Committee to form. And, if she remember correctly, Trask had been a part of that committee.

Why would a man suddenly change his mind? Why would he go from designing robots to kill mutants to fighting for their civil liberties? It didn't add up. Trask was after something, but his actions were so sporadic that she couldn't figure out what they were. If she could touch him, get hold of is ankle or something, she could find out what was going on. She could make him tell her the truth. Except that she couldn't see through the bag over her head and, with the whirling of the choppers blades, she couldn't hear any of the men around her breathing.

She felt the drop in elevation as the copter prepare for its landing. It wasn't as definitive as a plane or a jet, but it was still perceptible. She crossed her arms over her chest, finding that she was growling under her breath. _Clearly, I need to stop hanging out with my husband,_ she told herself. Even in the midst of her kidnapping, she found a small smile in that thought. Logan would certainly find it amusing. Although, he wasn't really known for finding joy or amusement in tough situations. Her husband had a one track mind. Once he was angry, there was little that would pull him from his mood.

Sirenia was helped from the helicopter by rough hands. They shoved her about as if she weighed little more than a feather, positioning her as they liked and moving her along at their own pace. They helped her down flights of stairs, into a room cold as ice. It was surprising, actually. Most of the time that she was taken by people, they stuck her in rooms that were hot and dry with the intention of drying her skin out. "Secure the bonds," she heard Trask saying, but his voice echoed throughout the room and she couldn't tell where he was standing.

Shackles were closed around her wrists and ankles, but the mask remained. The clinking of chains sounded, being drawn up into some kind of gear if her ears didn't deceive her. She could feel them tightening around her before she could feel her arms tugging at her sockets, her ankles being pulled apart until her body would have resembled an X and she was being drawn into the air. _ Because no one has come up with more original tortures in the last five centuries,_ she muttered to herself.

The cloth sack obstructing her view was ripped away. The medical lighting in the chamber blinded her momentarily, but her arms were bound and she could do little more than blink until her eyes adjusted to the brightness. "I apologize again for all of the secrecy," Trask was saying as Sirenia was taking in her surroundings. "But with all of your telepathic friends, I couldn't exactly let you have any clues as to where we were going." Except that she'd been taken enough to know that the helicopter had been flying for little more than half an hour. She didn't know what direction they'd gone in, but she did know that it wasn't far from where she'd been taken from.

"Why don't we get this over with, Trask? Just tell me what you want and we can both move on with our lives," Sirenia bit out. "I'll help you out a little bit. You want Logan or Charles or the rest of the X-Men. You're going to torture me for information which I will never give. Now, it would be my turn. There's nothing you can do to me that will make me tell you. Not even on threat of death will I be willing to help you hurt my friends. And as for my husband, you're right. He will come for me and you will be sorry when he does. Logan has a tendency to maim those who take what he declares to be his. You should see what he'll do to someone who takes his beer." She flinched in mock agony, although Logan's possessiveness wasn't exactly something to joke about. "If you can imagine that, you can imagine what he'll do when he finds out that you've taken his wife."

"You're wrong," Trask said, stepping closer to her, his cane clapping against the floor as he made his way closer to her. "I know what it's like. To be unappreciated, to be nothing more than background noise. They don't appreciate your talents, Sirenia, but I do."

"You know what that feels like how? Because presidents stopped wanting to trust you after you nearly killed one of their own?" she demanded. The room around her was sterile, like a operation room in a hospital. The bonds weren't responding to her demands, though, no matter how hard she tried. "It might have more to do with the epic failure of 1973," she taunted.

"A failure that I have come to learn involved your friends at the Xavier House," he snapped back at her.

"So you started a Mutant Integration program so that you could make sure you could get your revenge? I may be a mermaid, by I'm not dumb," she growled back.

"I know fully well that you're not dumb, Sirenia. Why do you think I've taken you? It's not to get to your husband or your friends. The end of the Sentinel Program allowed me to move on to bigger and better things. I started to research, started to learn about mutants. I began the Integration Committee because I could see the errors in my ways. Mutants were not monsters to be feared and slaughtered. Your people are like _gods; _your abilities are like magic. I am glad that your friends ended the Sentinel Projects. They would have ruined the world," he explained.

"If you don't want revenge and you don't want my friends, what the hell do you want?" Sirenia could feel herself growing wilder as she looked around the room. Most of her torturers used heat lamps, like those used to keep warehouses from growing to chilly. The one above her was more akin to those used in tanning beds. It would be the UV rays that would see her death the fastest. "What do you want?" she shouted when Trask failed to answer her.

"I am not finished with what I have to give to this world," Trask stated rather bluntly. "And yet, the world seems to want to take me away, to make sure that no one knows of the great things that I have to offer. I'm nearing eighty, you see. It's an age that not many men see in this day in age. Unless, of course, those men happen to be like you or your husband." Her brows furrowed as she struggled to comprehend his meaning. "I was able to use what little I had of Mystique's blood to slow down my own aging. It stops me from looking like a frail, eighty-year-old man, but it doesn't change the death inside my body. I couldn't quite figure that part out.

"And then I heard about you. According to the studies that I've read, you've lived several centuries through." His smile turned slightly more maniacal as he stared at her. "I believe that your blood is the proverbial fountain of youth, if that makes any sense. And I intend to find out exactly what gives you immortality."

"So that you can contribute to science for years and years to come?" He flipped a switch close to his side, one attached to a table at his right.

"Something along those lines," he beamed as the light came on. "So, let's start the experiments."


	28. Chapter XXVIII

**Author's Note: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't say it enough. Here's where we're at though. I'll have a chapter up tomorrow for you as well ****_IF_**** I can get four reviews on tonight's chapter. I really want to know what you guys are thinking and if you're liking the drama or if you've lost interest. Please, please, please, please? Okay. I'm done begging. **

**For now... Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXVIII<strong>

_ "Why don't I remember you?" he demanded of her. Her body was pressed the car's icy exterior, her legs dangling in a bloody tangle. "You keep tell me that I can trust you, but I know nothing about you. I can't trust you. I don't know you!" he snarled. Sirenia's face was turning blue, her hands coming up to claw at the meaty wrist attached to the hand he had wrapped around her slim neck. "Who are you?" he asked. _

_ "I'm your best friend," she gasped, trying desperately to pry his hand away. "We've been friends for years." She tugged on his wrist again. "Logan, I can't breathe." Her chest was heaving for breath, her lungs straining for even the smallest amount of air. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. "You…don't…want to…kill me," she told him. "Please." _

_ He wasn't sure if it was the begging that got to him or if some part of him actually recognized the woman that he was choking, but his hand pulled away from her throat and let her drop to the floor. Sirenia's knees buckled underneath her weight and let her sink to the ground, coughing as her lungs sucked in the sweet air. She began to explain to him, in a soft voice that was hoarse from the pressure that had been on her throat, everything that she knew about his life. She told him about his family, the father that he'd never known and the father who raised him. She told him about his brother and the things the two of them had done together. She told him about when they'd met and everything that had happened since then. "You don't remember me because you were shot in the head by bullets made from the same metal that's in your skeleton," she finally muttered._

_ "In my skeleton? What is that supposed to mean?" He was pacing the small space in front car, his bare feet stamping down the snow as he marched. "What did you do to me?" _

_ "I already told you. I didn't do anything. The people who were holding us did it," she muttered. She looked pitiful on the ground, curled in a tight ball in clinging to herself. The snow was icy against her skin, the blood freezing to her legs. "I'll tell you everything that I know. But can I get off the ground?" _

_ "Get up," he replied. She looked up at her, her eyes sparkling as she stared at him. Her lips were turning blue and trembling. Her skin was nearly as pale as the snow that she was crumpled in. Except for the stark purple bruise that now adorned her neck. He'd never seen a mark develop so quickly. The bruise was hideous, a reminder that he'd hurt her. Why that bothered him so much, he couldn't quite explain. But it did bother him. "Let me help you," he finally said, slipping his arms behind her back and beneath her knees. He hefted her against his chest, feeling her shiver in his arms. "I believe you," he added, pushing open the door of the car that he'd stolen and placing her inside. "I don't know why, but I do believe you." _

Logan's head tipped too far forward, his body jerking up in response. He'd been looking for his wife for nearly a week. He'd been traveling around the country nonstop, following every lead that he had on Trask. Wherever the man's name had been whispered, he'd gone. He needed to find his wife, needed to know where she was hidden. He needed to save her before Trask figure out the ultimate way to torture her. But for the last six days, all he'd done was fly around and be tortured by nightmares of the woman that he couldn't find.

The memories came back to him in bits and pieces. He remembered the first time that he'd seen her. He remembered the first time that he'd gone swimming with her, dragged beneath the surface alongside her. The first time that she'd pressed her lips against his to give him air. He remembered the beauty of the first cave that she'd shown him, the way the water shimmered on the surface. They weren't always chronological. They jumped around. He remembered the first time that he'd seen her after coming back to the mansion. She'd been holding Rogue's hand, the two of them hugging each other tight as they walked through the hall.

He remembered every time that he'd hurt her, too. The pain in her eyes when he'd walked away from her in the mansion. The hurt he had seen when she'd realized that he'd forgotten her that first day after leaving Striker's lab. He rubbed his face, wishing that he could rub some more knowledge into them. It didn't matter how he tried, though. He couldn't figure out where Trask had her. Charles had been no help, either. The Professor could find any mutant in the world, except for the one that he needed to find.

Wherever Sirenia was being kept, it was a secure enough facility that the Professor's telepathy couldn't reach through it. Thinking that there were only a few places in the country that could have that kind of structure. They were the first things that he had looked at, the first places that he'd gone to find his wife. Only after there was no sign of her there did he begin searching every other possibility. "Logan?" He looked up at the soft, feminine voice that had called his name.

Storm was sauntering towards him, her short hair tickling the tops of her ears. "We're going to find her, Logan. We always do," she promised him, sinking into the seat at his side. "Sirenia is a tough woman. I've never seen her go through anything that she hasn't been able to handle. Even torture. She's stronger than anyone that you've ever met."

"Don't you think it's a little unfair?" he whispered. "If this was Rogue or Kitty or anyone else, everyone would be working their asses off. But this Sirenia. She's apparently immortal. She can heal from anything. So we don't look for her. We spend time, searching out clues, follows leads. But in the meantime, we leave Sirenia to suffer at the hands of a scientist who was once determined to kill every mutant on the planet. We let her stay because, hell, she can handle it."

"You know that they're looking for her," Storm whispered. "They're all looking for her, Logan. Charles, Scott, Jean, Hank…they won't stop until they find her. When I said that Sirenia was—_is_ the toughest person that I know, I didn't mean to imply that we would let her suffer. I was trying calm your fears. I was trying to make you feel a little better. Sirenia will make it through this."

"But I'm still sitting on this _damn jet_, looking for Sirenia, getting no where. You want to tell me that we're not letting her suffer? Trask wanted Mystique so that he could tear her apart and figure out what made her able to change her appearance. What do you think he'll do to Sirenia?"

"Nothing, Logan. Every time that Sirenia's been taken, they've just held her. Even she'll tell you that. They're usually after you or the X-Men. They've taken Jean and Scott, even Hank got taken once. Grounds of rebel mutants just want someone to listen. They don't care who," Storm tried to reassure him again.

"You don't see it, do you? If we think that Trask has her, for whatever reason, he didn't just _take_ her because he wanted to. He isn't that kind of man. He's smart. He would've done some research on her. He knows about her. He didn't take her for one of us. He took her because she's special." Storm frowned at that statement. "Sirenia has lived for _years_ and hasn't been killed. We don't even know if her theory about drying her out. She is the literal key to immortality. I don't know what Trask wants, but I know that he wants her and I wouldn't be surprised if it was for her blood." His back went ramrod stiff, his eyes widening.

"Where would they have a compound that the Professor's telepathy can't reach and still have a medical facility for experimenting?" Logan whispered. "In 1973, there was an underground prison where they were keeping Erik. His cell was made completely out of plastic, but the building itself was made out of concrete," he muttered, talking more to himself than he was to her. "It was connected with CIA. They arrested him for JFK's murder."

"And?" Storm asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"One of the cells was modified to keep Erik _in_. What if another was modified to keep _Charles _out? It wouldn't take much, right? Put up the right metal in thin sheets, right before the concrete and it's foundation. You could keep Charles out and still have the right medical facility for Trask to do his experiments."

"Why would they have a medical facility in a prison? I mean, other than just a basic medical care for injured inmates?" Storm muttered.

"The CIA isn't exactly known for being kind to their inmates, Storm," he said, that devilish grin playing at his face. "Let's go. I know where they are."

"There's no sign of Trask near that prison, Logan," Ororo tried to argue.

"Trust me on this one. That's where he is." He practically dragged Storm to the cockpit and tossed her, as gently as he could, onto her seat. "Let's go get my wife back."


	29. Chapter XXIX

**Hey guys! So, I generally try to keep to a schedule and update every other day for each of my stories. I have no problem doing that, but I do have a different problem. I need to see reviews in order to know what you guys are thinking. It's a little difficult to know if people are liking the story or not when I can't look at the feedback. For that reason, I'm implementing a new _new_ system.**

**On each chapter, a number of reviews will be asked for at the end (never more than five, depending on that story's following). In order for the next chapter to be posted, I'm asking for that number of reviews. In other words, my lovely, beautiful, loyal readers are setting the pace. If you want the chapter the next evening, all you need to do is review. If you don't really care when it comes out, don't review. Okay?**

**I hope that you guys understand that I'm not doing this to be mean or vindictive. Rather, I'm doing this to better myself as an author and my stories, ultimately giving me the ability to write better for you all. Okay?**

**Happy Reading!**

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><p><strong>Chapter XXIX<strong>

Sirenia felt like every portion of her body was coming apart. She told herself to be grateful that she was no longer hanging by her wrists from the ceiling, but lying on the operation table wasn't any better than being strung up like some big. Especially not when Trask was testing her skin's ability to suture itself in various places. So far, all he'd learned was that the softer, more tender the skin, the long that it takes for it to heal. Ultimately, the more pain it caused the mutant. Sirenia actually found herself begging to be tortured. At least she knew the end of that game. Eventually, those people got so tired of the lack of information that they just killed her.

With this, however, there was no end game. Trask didn't want information that she could give. He wanted a test subject from whom he could extract all the information to become immortal. There was no end to this. Sirenia would be stuck in this never ending cycle of pain and torment until she ended up dead or rescued. She hadn't been able to reach Jean or the Professor. Everything inside of her head was radio silence.

It was almost amazing how things that had once driven her crazy now comforted her to no end. She's once seen the Professor and Jean's powers as invading her privacy. Now, though…What she wouldn't give to hear Charles' methodic, drawn out voice or Jean's short, feminine voice in her head. It would be comforting to hear any sound, anything other than the whirling of the surgical saw or the beeping of the heart monitor. She couldn't help but think of the days they spent on the boat, the time curled against her husband's chest. God, but it would feels so good to have him near her, to listen to the rumbling breath of his snores at night…

"It is simply incredible," Trask said, pulling her to the present and straight into the realm of pain she'd been struggling to forget about. He held a recording device beneath his chin, ignoring the doctor who was currently sawing into her skin. "Subject's skin heals from lacerations, however residual burns from UV exposure remain," he spoke to the device. "Subjects systems have healed from introduced viruses and bacteria. Only minor boils remain, resulting from the introduction of bubonic plague to the system. Like the epidermis, internal tissues have yet to heal from cauterization. An interesting setback, but a setback nonetheless," he was saying succinctly.

Sirenia could find no discernible emotion other than fascination. Most of her captors had kept her hidden away, but more importantly, most of her torturers tended to have some emotion. They felt anger or frustration or pain. Some showed signs of feeling sympathy for her. Trask was clinical in every step that he took, in every word that he spoke. He didn't care what he had to do or who he had to hurt. He wanted his answers. It wasn't people that he was hurting. She stopped being something that could feel pain the moment that he started experimenting. She was a test, something to be questioned and prodded until the result was what he wanted to see. He was the definition of a mad scientist.

Sirenia panted against the drag of the scalpel against her skin, struggling to keep breathing. She let her eyes slide shut, her breath escaping from her mouth in a rush. "I'm going to die if you don't stop this," she warned him. It was a lie; a blatant lie. There was nothing that could kill her that she knew. But as he had seen in his tests, her skin could heal from almost anything except burns. Burn marks and the pain that was left by them took as long to heal as a normal person's skin would.

"No; I have the best physicians on hand. They won't allow you to die," he assured her. She could feel the man digging around in the veining and nerves that surrounded her spine. "I am sorry that we can't use any of that anesthetic for you. We did try, if you'll recall, that first experimentation day. But the rate at which your body heals seems to run the medication right out of your system." Sirenia didn't care about what he was saying. The apology sounded completely insincere. It didn't really matter, though. She had long since lost track of time. That first day of experimenting seemed like ages ago, maybe years. The only way that she could tell time was in the nurses who came to see her and check her vitals. She'd seen three different medics for four cycles each. Best that she could tell, that meant that she'd been experimented on for the last twelve days. Of course, there were a few days when she hadn't seen anyone and times when she had seen nothing at all.

"Why won't you let me go?" she asked. "You have samples of everything that you should need. I'm pretty sure you took a tissue sample from my _heart_," she snapped. "There's no reason to keep me here. You'll figure out how to make yourself immortal with or without my help." Her voice was soft, barely a thread of a whisper. She groaned when she felt the surgical tool drawing across her skin again.

"We have not, but you do bring up an interesting point. After all, the heart is the muscle that pumps all the blood to the rest of the body. It is entirely possible that _that_ is what keeps you alive."

"You can't take out my heart. You just said it. The heart is what keeps the body going. I'll die the moment that you take my heart out of my chest," she rested her cheek against her arm and practically screamed in frustration. "If your end goal is to kill me, why don't you just get it over with? At least then you could do an autopsy and we could be done with this."

"I never said anything about killing you. Don't you see? If you were dead, your systems would shut down. No, the time for studying is _now_, while you are alive and thriving," he explained.

"You mean while I'm alive and _writhing_ in pain," she retorted.

"We'll do a simple biopsy. I'll have the doctor here explain it to you," he assured her. He patted her hand placatingly, like a father talking down to his child. "Prep the subject for a myocardial biopsy and please be sure to explain the procedure to her. I have a meeting to get to. No matter what happens, please make sure that she is still alive when I get back. As I just explained, her systems are only useful to my studies while she is alive." Sirenia spared a moment to wonder why she was referred to as _she_ instead of _it_ or _the subject._ It seemed an odd way to refer to her when he took no time at all to note her in any of his monologues. She was simply _the subject _when he was recording.

"We're going to make a small incision in your neck. It's the only area of you that isn't too disturbed from the last experiments," the doctor behind her said. He was an older man with dark hair that was only beginning to be salted. He had a small goatee growing on his chin and spectacles that perched on his nose like a baby bird about to take flight for the first time. "We're going to insert a catheter through the incision and feed it into your heart. From there, we will take a small piece of tissue from the left or right side of your heart, pending the results of a few examinations we'll do before we begin. Once we have our catheter in place, we'll feed another device with the tip on the ends to pull that piece of tissue. It should last about an hour. Is everything clear to you? Do you have any questions?"

"Does it really matter? It's not like I'm going to sign some form of consent or report you to the medical board. I'm sure all the names that I have been given are fake anyways," she said softly, staring at the lights that were blaring at her.

"It's my job," the aging doctor said. He slid his hand into hers and gave it a little squeeze. "No matter who my patient is, I try to make them feel at ease."

"Let me ask you," she said, feigning innocence so that he would give her the answer that she was seeking. "Did you know what he was planning when he brought me in?" she asked.

"No, dear. I didn't." He patted her hand in a gesture of comfort. "I wouldn't have agreed if I had known."

"Where are we?" she asked, struggling for her next bit of air.

The doctor sighed. "I'm not entirely sure. All of us are being kept on site," he said, sliding his hand from hers and placing the oxygen mask over her face. "You should rest. Dr. Trask has made it clear that he isn't willing to rest until he knows everything about your mutation."

"You and your people should rest too," she replied, lifting the mask to speak. "Because when my husband gets here, you'll be sorry that you were ever a part of this."

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><p><strong>So, the next chapter will be posted in three days or within 24 hours of receiving THREE REVIEWS<strong>


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